Editor’s Picks – Showbams

As summer comes to an end, Viceroy tells us why it’s still ‘summertime all the time’ in his mind

September 2, 2016 by Jansen Granflor Leave a Comment

Photos courtesy of Chubbies // Written by Jansen Granflor //

It’s not everyday that you get to interview someone whom you truly admire, but last month the opportunity presented itself while prepping for the second weekend of Splash House in Palm Springs (read our review here).

Viceroy, born Austen Afridi, is an unofficial ambassador for the twice-a-summer event that reigns supreme over all other California pool parties. Just close your eyes and imagine this: beautiful people sunbathing by the pool, clear blue skies, hot weather, ice-cold drinks and a thumping house beat. Viceroy, otherwise known as the “Sultan of Summer” as he playfully calls himself, has been painting this exact picture for years with his music, and it finally all makes sense now — Afridi, both literally and metaphorically, has become “a ruler exercising authority” over a kingdom he created.

Showbams spoke with Viceroy about his “summertime all the time” brand, his Jetlife side project and his affinity for Hawaiian shirts, among other topics.

Showbams: You are slowly becoming the unofficial face of Splash House as the color palette and beats match the Viceroy mentality. What do you think of Splash House? Have you been to one?

Viceroy: I love the vibe at Splash House. I’ve played every single one of them, and it’s always a blast. My friends come with me, so I stay the whole weekend.

Showbams: When did you first come up with your “summertime all the time” brand, and what influenced it?

Viceroy: I came up with it when I started Viceroy five years ago. It just came naturally to me as I love summer more than anything. It really speaks to who I am as a person.

Showbams: How about Jetlife? That side project seems like a nice alternate approach to the other music you create.

Viceroy: I love 90’s hip-hop and R&B. It’s fun to throw my signature sound on something that originally is so different.

Showbams: Are you still bringing a saxophone player with you to your gigs? Is it the same guy every time or do you recruit them from different cities? Do you provide a Hawaiian shirt for them as well?

Viceroy: Yes, his name is Simon and I bring him around. I’m also building out a live show with more musicians. My homies at Chubbies provide Simon with fresh shirts and shorts!

Showbams: Speaking of Hawaiian shirts, I myself have built a small collection of Hawaiian shirts after seeing you perform in Orange County back in 2014 and now I notice them at thrift stores and buy/sell/trade places in Los Angeles. That said, how many do you own? Were they all purchased brand new or are some of them second-hand/vintage?

Viceroy: I have so many that I’ve lost count. I have a rad partnership with Chubbies, so all my shorts and shirts are from them.

Showbams: Being part of the early 2000’s house music generation, I fell in love with the “white label bootleg remixes” of the time. Are any of your remixes “bootlegs?”

Viceroy: When I started, some of my releases were bootlegs for sure, but now I get commissioned to do mine.

Showbams: Who are some of your favorite collaborators?

Viceroy: I loved working with Gavin Turek on my latest single “Fade Out”. K.Flay is rad, too!

Showbams: How do you feel about B2B sets?

Viceroy: I love them! Especially if it’s with the homies.

Showbams: A lot of your remixes add a very distinct layer of piano. Did you have any formal training growing up?

Viceroy: I grew up playing the piano for several years.

Showbams: Where do you call home now?

Viceroy: Good old San Francisco!

Showbams: What are you working on now? Any EP projects in mind? Any big tour dates ahead you’re prepping for?

Viceroy: I’m working on building the live show and just more music with a potential EP in the works.

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Interviews Tagged With: Splash House, Splash House 2016, Viceroy

Splash House 2016: One wet & wild weekend

August 19, 2016 by Jansen Granflor 1 Comment

Photos by Anastasia Velicescu, Jesse Fulton, Jose Negrete & Quinn Tucket for Goldenvoice // Written by Jansen Granflor //

Splash House //
The Saguaro & The Riviera – Palm Springs, CA
August 12th-14th, 2016 //

Now in its third year and hosting its fifth overall event, Splash House combines the pools of The Saguaro and The Riviera for two weekends each summer. We drove from Orange County to Palm Springs last weekend to watch it all go down at the festival’s second edition in 2016.

There were also official after parties on Friday and Saturday night at the Palm Springs Air Museum, which trade pools and bare skin for shorts and shoes with laces for an intimate “dancing under the stars” experience. We spoke with festivalgoers as far north as the Bay Area, as far south as San Diego and as far east as Arizona who all made the journey for two days and three nights of excruciating heat, refreshing pools and unquestionably one of the most talented lineups of underground electronic artists.

Our weekend began at the Palm Springs Air Museum last Friday night with the weather just below 100 degrees and the excitement building for Australian alternative dance group RÜFÜS DU SOL, who performed at the Santa Monica Pier (read our review of the show here) the night before. It was also the only “live band” set we caught all weekend. A constant breeze provided a comfortable atmosphere we would not experience again until the following evening, as DJ duo Hotel Garuda played warmed up the crowd with remixes of “Ultraviolence” by Lana Del Rey and “Begging for Thread” by Banks, before the night culminated with the Sydney group doling out a number of hits, including “Like An Animal” & “Say a Prayer for Me”. However, for those who used Uber to get to the party, the night inevitably ended on a sour note (see what we mean below).

Turning to Saturday, festivalgoers slowly trickled into the Saguaro’s pool area before 3 p.m., and two hours later, the place was jam-packed and it was close to being a fire hazard an hour later. Unofficial Splash House resident DJ Viceroy treated those present to the same poolside, “summertime-all-the-time” tunes he normally plays, although one could argue they worked better at Splash House than anywhere else in the world. From there, UK “hypnodance” duo Psychemagik kept the vibe going and transitioned into their remix/rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”, which proved to be the first of numerous iconic moments that could be attributed to an oldie-but-goodie.

We subsequently made the trek to The Riviera, which had a much larger capacity and created a raw atmosphere with a soundtrack that featured EDM-infused trap, dubstep and hip-hop through the late afternoon and early evening. If the Saguaro was supposed to be the fest’s underground house music stage, The Riviera was the main stage with thumping, big-room bass, as the artists performed right beside the deep end (go figure) of The Riviera’s massive, expansive pool .

Scottish producer extraordinaire Hudson Mohawke had the ratchets grinding to “Pony” by Ginuwine at the end of his sundown set (just another iconic moment of the weekend set to a timeless masterpiece), while British duo Snakehips gave the party new life with a remix of The Weeknd’s “Wanderlust” early on in their headlining slot. Right before 9 p.m., Snakehips played their smash hit “All My Friends” feat. Tinashe and Chance the Rapper, which was a bit of life-imitating art considering the song is about wasting another night with all your friends by getting, well, wasted of course, which was clearly what the crowd at The Riviera had been up to all night.

Saturday night’s action at the Palm Springs Air Museum featured music from two very busy deep-house artists — Germany’s Claptone and North London’s Chris Lake — playing for what felt like a much smaller audience than the previous night. The 100-degree heat at midnight could have been a significant factor, or it could have simply been the lineup, as one overseer for the venue told us how she loved RÜFÜS DU SOL the night before but could care less about the “techno” that was blaring in the background. As the evening progressed, Lake inevitably dropped his deep-house remix of Calvin Harris’ “How Deep is Your Love”, an absolute banger and an anthem for a sub-genre that has withstood the EDM boom-and-bust over the last few years. As the hottest Saturday in recent memory finally came to an end, Claptone closed with a flawless set that included his Beatport-topping remixes of “Liquid Spirit” by Gregory Porter and “Omen” by Disclosure featuring Sam Smith before finishing with his original track “No Eyes” that foreshadowed a night of much-needed sleep.

On Sunday at The Saguaro’s pool, French record label Partyfine’s funk ambassador Jean Tonique made his appearance, with London’s Marcus Marr following in what ultimately became my personal favorite set of the weekend. Marr brought the funk early and then worked in some dark bass lines before ending with an extended piano-intro version of Prince’s 1979 single “I Wanna Be Your Lover”, which had 99.98 percent of the crowd thoroughly enjoying the last few hours that were left of Splash House.

Over at The Riviera, an absolutely bonkers DJ roster of DFA Records’ The Juan Maclean, LA hometown heroes DJ Dodger Stadium (aka DJDS, who recently worked on Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo), up-and-coming DJ/producer Jesse Rose (who has blessed the LA underground scene throughout 2016), Australian remix champ Cassian (who was a last-minute sub for a sick Chris Malinchak) and festival headliner Gorgon City (who has seemingly played every continent in the world this past year) all took the stage at one point.

The dedicated partygoers at The Riviera’s pool on Sunday night were not ready to stop when the music was cut off shortly after 9 p.m., which might have been why a $10 impromptu after party was announced by Splash House’s promoters earlier in the day. Coincidentally enough, Sabastion, one-half of LA-based DJ duo Strange Club, told me late on Friday night, “I don’t do the day parties, just the (night parties at the Air Museum) and house parties in the area.” In a way then, it was only fitting that an artist whom Splash House handpicked was the last to hit the decks when it was all said and done.

We also ventured over to “All Day Disco” at The Riviera’s Tiki Pool on Sunday afternoon to catch Alex Harrington, a local DJ who moved to the Coachella Valley area 11 years ago after living in Northern California and was recently recognized as the “Best Club DJ” by Coachella Valley Weekly. Since relocating to the desert, Harrington has seen Splash House grow from a “one-weekend, regionally-known event to a festival that reaches people around the world,” and mentioned that artists are allowed to play whatever style suits them, so he made sure to keep reading the people in the pool to figure out what would keep them moving.

Harrington ended our interview with his own personal hopes that events like Splash House could raise the profile of the area and attract bigger artists in the future, and considering the festival sold out at 5,000 guests per day, all of whom lodged, ate, drank and partied in Palm Springs, we wouldn’t expect anything less than a bigger and better edition in 2017.

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Festival Reviews, Festivals Tagged With: Alex Harrington, Cassian, Chris Lake, Chris Malinchak, Claptone, DJ Dodger Stadium, Gorgon City, Hudson Mohawke, Jean Tonique, Jesse Rose, Marcus Marr, Psychemagik, RÜFÜS, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Sabastion, snakehips, Splash House, Splash House 2016, Strange Club, The Juan Maclean, Viceroy

Is the Santa Monica Pier’s Twilight Concert Series becoming too popular for its own good?

August 17, 2016 by Josh Herwitt 1 Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

RÜFÜS DU SOL with Marc Baker //
Santa Monica Pier – Santa Monica, CA
August 11th, 2016 //

Nothing says summer in Los Angeles quite like the Twilight Concert Series. Whether you live near the beach or not, the free shows at the Santa Monica Pier have become one of LA’s best summertime traditions over the years.

But as we found out at BØRNS’ headlining performance (read our review of the show here) last month, the series may be getting too big for its britches. At least part of that sentiment can be attributed to NPR member station KCRW’s curation process, which seemingly gets better and better with each passing year. And of course, it’s worth noting that the recent tragedies across this country have only forced increased security measures and a larger presence from local law enforcement.

That said, the crowd that arrived last Thursday to take in RÜFÜS DU SOL’s show was unlike anything I or anyone else had seen before. Whatever the attendance number was, whether it was 40,000 or 80,000, simply didn’t matter. The fact was, the concert viewing area on the pier couldn’t handle the sheer number of bodies that showed up to watch the Australian alt-dance outfit perform before it headed off to Palm Springs for a special late-night set at Splash House the following day.

What transpired at the pier this time was everything we experienced at the BØRNS show four weeks prior and worse, if that’s even possible. At one point, I didn’t even know if I was going to photograph RÜFÜS DU SOL because the fire marshal shut down the backstage VIP area due to overcrowding (when I finally got escorted back in, the photo pit was completely packed to the gills with mostly VIP guests who were there to watch the show). Had I known it was going to be that much trouble to re-enter, I never would have left to say hello to a friend after opener Marc Baker played for no more than 30 minutes, leaving a longer changeover than expected. I guess I underestimated just how far the Aussie trio has come since first releasing its RÜFÜS EP in early 2011.

“RÜFÜS … RÜFÜS DU WHO?” some of you might be saying. Though die-hard fans may laugh at those who haven’t heard of the band by now, I’ll be honest — I hadn’t heard of them either until April when I noticed they were listed on this year’s Coachella lineup. Clearly the joke is on me then, because after everything I witnessed from Tyrone Lindqvist (vocals, guitar), Jon George (keyboards) and James Hunt (drums), this shouldn’t have served as my introduction. Yet, there I was, sandwiched in between a bunch of bodies with my camera equipment in tow as RÜFÜS ran through material off their 2013 debut LP Atlas and this year’s follow-up Bloom, both of which have topped the charts in their home country.

There’s something about RÜFÜS DU SOL that makes them undeniably catchy. At times, their sun-drenched, beat-driven songs sound like a cross between Disclosure, Gorgon City and Bob Moses, with Lindqvist hooking listeners with his smooth vocal stylings. Knowing how popular those aforementioned groups have become, it made perfect sense that the pier was as packed as it was for RÜFÜS less than a week after they performed for the first time at Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival (read our review here) in San Francisco.

So, is there anything that can be done to keep the Thursday night crowds at the Santa Monica Pier to a more reasonable level going forward? If it means having to issue tickets — either on a first-come-first-serve basis or even for a small fee — for those who want to watch the show on the pier, then so be it. And while that change may not happen this year with only four shows left, don’t be surprised if it happens in 2017, assuming the Twilight Concert Series returns for its 33rd edition next summer.

After all, when in doubt, you can always still catch the show from the sand.

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Coachella, Coachella 2016, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2016, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2016, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2016, KCRW, Marc Baker, RÜFÜS, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Santa Monica Pier, Twilight Concert Series

First Times: Covering a show at the Hollywood Bowl

August 12, 2016 by Josh Herwitt 4 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

Sufjan Stevens with Kurt Vile and The Violators, Ibeyi //
Hollywood Bowl – Los Angeles
August 7th, 2016 //

No matter what you think of LA, whether you love it, hate it or hold no opinion of it at all, the Hollywood Bowl has remained universally loved as one of the city’s most prized possessions. It’s safe to say that the Bowl, as us Angelenos like to call it for short, has always stood as one of the world’s most legendary outdoor music venues. In fact, it’s still considered the “largest natural amphitheater” in the U.S. (whatever that means) at 17,500, but just do a quick Google search for “best outdoor music venues in the U.S.” and you’ll see how often it’s included in listicles ranking the best amphitheaters in the country. For that reason alone — although the glitz and glamour of LA have certainly never hurt — there has always been an understanding within the music industry that any artist who headlines a show inside the Bowl’s iconic bandshell has officially “made it.”

Though I don’t know if the same can be said for my music journalism career, there have been at least a few bright spots, one as most recently as last Sunday, when I was invited to cover my first show at the Bowl. It might sound cliché (actually it definitely sounds cliché), but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would get credentialed for a show at one of music’s most storied and historic venues, one that I grew up going to regularly as a kid. When you write for a small music blog like this one, getting the opportunity to cover a show at the Bowl doesn’t come around all that often, if ever. And what a show it turned out to be.

With a bill headlined by neo-psychedelic folk singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens and featuring sets from lo-fi indie rocker Kurt Vile with his backing band, The Violators, and French-Cuban soul/R&B duo Ibeyi, the lineup of performers on this night was eclectic to say the least. Yet, with two of the three acts already in California to play Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival (read our review here), NPR member station KCRW made sure to take advantage for its World Festival series.

Sufjan Stevens

It’s always tough for an opener to play the Bowl, and unfortunately Ibeyi had to find that out the hard way for its first appearance. With the show’s early start time due to the Bowl’s 10:30 p.m. curfew on Sundays (it slides back to 11 p.m. Monday-Saturday), most of the seats were empty when twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz took the stage at 7 p.m. sharp. It wasn’t until 7:40 p.m., when Vile and his three bandmates were subsequently up next, that the amphitheater started to fill up, especially in the upper-level sections. Vile, who has been touring heavily since the release of his sixth solo album b’lieve I’m goin down…, let out a few hoots and hollers as he opened his 50-minute set, doing his best to pump up the somewhat subdued crowd. But it was his music that ultimately got fans excited, leaning heavily on his newest material as he moved between electric guitar, acoustic guitar and banjo.

The spectacle of the night, however, was no doubt Sufjan Stevens’ set. The Michigan native, who professed his love for his home state on his 2003 LP, had it pretty rough growing up, as he details in “Should Have Known Better” from his latest studio effort Carrie & Lowell. The album, which recounts some of the more unsettling moments Stevens shared with his late mother (Carrie) and stepfather (Lowell) — including times when Carrie abandoned him as a child — and the emotional pain he felt following her death in 2012, has taken his career of almost 20 years to new heights, with many music critics pronouncing it his best yet.

On this evening though, Stevens did his best to spin things in a positive light, proclaiming at one point that he wanted to “sing about life” after spending “a year-and-a-half singing about death.” “Feel your heart and your lungs and the warmth of your skin, and know you’re alive,” he told us in between songs while preaching that we as a society need “less resistance” and “more acceptance.” Coming from a man who dons a pair of giant wings, a neon-colored track suit and at times, a bizarre balloon costume onstage, a spiritual pep talk as such could sound like a bunch of hocus pocus to glass-half-empty types. But the stories Stevens tells on Carrie & Lowell are real and heartfelt, ones that take guts to broadcast publicly like he does, and with a rainbow of fluorescent lights covering the Bowl’s band shell once night fell, the final stop on his 2016 summer tour felt more like a celebration of sorts than a memorial service. So, as the man in a foil-like suit ran through the crowd at the start of his encore, which concluded with a tribute to another one of his fallen heroes in Prince, I couldn’t help but smile and take it all in, knowing full well that the chance to cover a show at the Bowl may never come my way again.

SUFJAN STEVENS

Setlist:
Seven Swans
Too Much
All of Me Wants All of You
Come On! Feel the Illinoise!
I Walked
Vesuvius
Blue Bucket of Gold
Fourth of July
Should Have Known Better
Carrie & Lowell
I Want to Be Well
Impossible Soul
Chicago

Encore:
Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Highland, Illinois
For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti
Kiss (Prince cover) (with Moses Sumney)

KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS

Setlist:
Dust Bunnies
I’m an Outlaw
Jesus Fever
Goldtone
KV Krimes
Walkin’ on a Pretty Day
Pretty Pimpin’
Puppet for the Man
Freak Train

IBEYI

Setlist:
Elleggua
Lost in My Mind
Mama Says
I’m on My Way
Oya
Think of You
Oddudua
River

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, First Times, Show Experience Tagged With: Hollywood Bowl, Ibeyi, KCRW, KCRW World Festival, Kurt Vile, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Sufjan Stevens

Outside Lands 2016: Top sets, awards & what we overheard at Golden Gate Park

August 11, 2016 by Molly Kish 4 Comments

Photos by Norm de Veyra & James Pawlish // Written by Molly Kish //

Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival //
Golden Gate Park – San Francisco
August 5th-7th, 2016 //

Celebrating its ninth annual year as Northern California’s premier music, comedy, food and arts festival, Outside Lands took over Golden Gate Park last weekend and entertained crowds of more than 60,000 attendees each day with a massive roster of world-renowned talent. This year’s highlights surmounted all previous editions and exceeded the expectations of the most veteran festivalgoers.

Beyond the daily artist lineups, mouth-watering fare and unparalleled comedy showcases, Outside Lands kicked it up a notch in 2016, playing to what seemed like a more refined crowd on a local and national level. The festival’s organizers created an environment that appealed to both novices and seasoned attendees, with convenience being the key factor and a running theme that helped establish a flow to the fairgrounds that was unattainable in past years.

The fest also worked with PayPal to set up an option for cashless transactions by uploading “Bison Bucks” to your wristband, creating a seamless navigation of all the food/beverage and merchandise options. Furthermore, the debut of additional boutique concessions at Oyster Lands and Cocktail Lands provided a reprieve from the long lines at food trucks, booths and beer stands for the mature palette.

Even the structure and pace of this year’s Outside Lands schedule felt more conducive to less park-length traversing, with each stage focusing more on specific genres and demographics. There are still certain aspects that could use improvement, such as an increased availability of trash receptacles, bathroom options and crowd control at the festival’s entrance, but the issues that Outside Lands faced this year were no different or more overbearing than any other large-scale production.

Now nine years on the circuit, the Bay Area’s premiere destination for festival revelers has definitely matured to an impressive standard in the live music business. As Outside Lands continues to set the bar high thanks to its innovative features, top-notch billing and overall experience, here are our favorite moments from 2016.

LCD Soundsystem

TOP SETS:

Headliner: LCD Soundsystem

Hip-Hop: Anderson .Paak

Pop: Grimes

Singer-Songwriter: Lana Del Rey

Rock: FOALS

EDM: Zedd

Jazz: Kamasi Washington

Experimental: Air

Breakthrough artist: Jidenna

Local act: Down and Outlaws

Heineken Dome: Warren G & E-40 (pop-up performance)

Chance the Rapper

OUTSIDE LANDS 2016 AWARDS:

Biggest Crowd: Chance the Rapper

In one of the few transcendent moments of the weekend, a set that had everyone throughout the fairgrounds hyped into an anticipatory frenzy, Chance the Rapper performed at the Lands End stage on Sunday afternoon for easily the largest crowd of the entire weekend. Even those who stood their ground through Third Eye Blind’s preceding set felt the drastic change in both crowd size and personal space as the polo fields flooded and temperatures rose. Even though Chance could have used this to his advantage and conducted an explosive show, igniting the tightly configured crowd into a combustive state, he instead took his fans “to church” with a spiritually centered gospel set, making sure everyone was attentive and of course, that “his part” resonated among the masses.

Honorable Mention: Lana Del Rey, J. Cole

Most Magical Outside Lands Moment: Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem

One of the biggest questions on everyone’s mind coming into Outside Lands was, “Who were Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem?” For those who knew, it was, “How in the hell were the Muppets going to fill a Sunday slot on the main stage?” Because the band had never played a show of such magnitude or outside the context of a TV/film studio, no one had any clue what to expect during this early-afternoon slot. Though some festivalgoers (mistakenly) decided to forego the experience altogether, those present will not forget the incredible feat that Another Planet Entertainment and Jim Henson Enterprises were able to pull off for what was one of the most emotionally nostalgic, blissfully complex and once-in-a-lifetime festival performances maybe ever. The Muppet house band both effortlessly managed to pluck the heartstrings of multiple generations of fans while delivering the most conceptually beautiful “love letter” to the city of SF, blanketing the grounds in a sea of love and collective euphoria for a brief, yet unforgettable moment. Relive the full performance here.

Honorable Mention: Big Boi’s set at Heineken Dome (pop-up performance), Jason Isabel performing with Ryan Adams

Funniest Stage Banter: Ryan Adams and The Shining

Known to be quite the comedian with his sassy stage banter and on-the-spot ad libs, Ryan Adams and his backing band, The Shining, catered to the Bay Area audience by revisiting a moment from his 2014 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass set with a rousing reprise of “3 Balloons”. He not only called out his attending family’s and audience members’ concert etiquette faux pas, but he also mentioned his annoyance with the bass of Major Lazer’s simultaneous set as well as referenced the standout beacon of this year’s festival, which was hoisted up by a group of super fans watching from the crowd. Check out it here.

Honorable Mention: Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, Lionel Richie

Most Jaw-Dropping Performance: Peaches

For those familiar with the raunchy revelry that a Peaches show entails, we were front and center when the pro-sex powerhouse took the Panhandle stage on Saturday. As for novice audience members or anyone really within the general vicinity during the set, this festival performance was one that frontwoman Merrill Nisker was determined to make sure would be burned into our Outside Lands memories for life. Somewhat of a crossbreed between live sex show and avant-garde performance art, Peaches paired hard-hitting bass lines with spitfire lyrics and a stage show of elaborately X-rated costumes and choreography that left the crowd on one hand speechless and on the other frantically screaming for more.

Honorable Mention: Grimes, The Claypool Lennon Delirium

Best GastroMagic Moment: Skew It on the Bar B with Big Boi, Animal’s Jon Shook & Vinny Dotolo and State Bird’s Stuart Brioza

On the third and final day of Outside Lands, most attendees were camped out at their favorite stage, decompressing from the first two days of excitement and settling in to watch the final performances of the weekend. But if you happened to be one of the few wandering through the Choco Lands overpass or happened to remember Big Boi’s scheduled performance at the GastroMagic stage, you were in for a treat. Those present in the intimate crowd not only got a mini set of both Outkast and solo hits from the vivacious emcee, but they also got samples of some of the most sought-after BBQ shrimp in the Bay Area while listening to remixed versions of each song that incorporated the word “shrimp” into every chorus. Hilariously ridiculous and insanely delicious, those present may never hear those songs performed the same way again. In fact, we’re still giggling and singing “I like the way you shrimp” days later.

Honorable Mention: Beignets and Bounce Brunch (with Big Freedia and Brenda’s Soul Food), Shark Bites (with Jauz, Mother of Pearl and Guittard Chocolate Company)

Sarah Barthel of Big Grams

Most “Thirst-Inducing” Performers of the Weekend: Big Gram’s Sarah Barthel, Miguel

Worst Decisions of the Weekend: The girl who climbed the windmill during J. Cole’s set and fell (watch here), deciding to bring a bag with you to the festival

Best Totems: The Red Balloon

Honorable Mention: Rick & Morty, Stranger Things Dustin

Biggest Festival Wear Trend of 2016: Hipster Bandito

Honorable Mention: Animal-themed onesies, flower crowns/bedazzled body parts

Best “Taste of the Bay” Menu Item: Bacon Bacon CA BBQ Bacon Burritos

Best Adult Beverage: Elixir’s Whatamelon Cocktail

Best Non-Alcoholic Nectar of the Gods: Straw’s Basil Strawberry Lemonade

Best Festival Feature: Cocktail Lands

Best Way to Waste Time Between Sets: PayPal Video Game Arcade

Radiohead

OVERHEARD AT OUTSIDE LANDS 2016:

The best directly stated and heard in passing at the festival.

“An empty bag is still a bag!” – crowd members policing the “no-bag” entry lines to the festival

“Is this the Trail of Tears section of Outside Lands?” – crowd members while passing through Choco Lands

“I’m in the Upside Down …” – Day 3 entry ways to the festival

“Hurry up, run! The flower crowns are coming, the flower crowns are coming!” – crowd members exiting the Twin Peaks stage area before Lana Del Rey

“I must’ve missed the goth/bandito appropriation memo …” – in reference to this year’s style trends

“Meet me at the Red Balloon!” – various lost attendees throughout the grounds

“Tits out for Radiohead!” – an ambitious crowd member on Saturday night

“Jesus, Rachel!” – in reference to “basic bitch” behavior/clothing choices throughout the weekend

“I be on that shrimp tonight, straight up on that shrimp tonight, I be on that straight up on that, I be on that shrimp tonight.” – Big Boi during his GastroMagic performance

“Mmmm, porcini doughnuts …” (Homer Simpson voice) – mimicking nearby food vendors

“Who even is Lionel Richie … oh, Nicole Richies’ dad?!” – mortifyingly clueless audience member

“We’re all Diana Ross!” – Lionel Richie in reference to his “special guest”

“We’re all gonna die, whatcha’ gonna do about it?” – Sufjan Stevens contemplating life on stage

“This is the best moment of my life, can I live in an LCD set?” – enthused crowd member

“I’d follow you to hell …” – a member of a large group attempting to traverse the grounds

“But my mom and dad are in there …” – festivalgoers attempting to jump the line entering the festival

“You know San Francisco has totally changed, like I went back to my place on the pier and it was taken over by sea lions, like totally gentrified!” – Janus during Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem’s set

Outside Lands 2016 - The Last Shadow Puppets

Outside Lands 2016 - Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Festival Reviews, Festivals Tagged With: Air, Amen Dunes, Anderson .Paak, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, Aquilo, Bahamas, Beach House, Beck, Big Freedia, Big Grams, Big Grams (Big Boi + Phantogram), Brandi Carlile, Broken Social Scene, Carly Rae Jepsen, Chance The Rapper, Chicano Batman, Chromeo, Chvrches, Claptone, Cuco, Daniel Caesar, DIIV, DJ Snake, Down and Outlaws, Duran Duran, Fantastic Negrito, Father John Misty, Florence & the Machine, FOALS, Future, GastroMagic, Goldlink, Grimes, GRIZ, Gryffin, Halsey, Hiatus Kaiyote, Hobo Johnson, Hobo Johnson & the Lovemakers, Ibeyi, Illenium, J. Cole, Jack Garratt, James Blake, Jamie xx, Janet Jackson, Jason Isbell, JAUZ, Jessie Reyez, Jidenna, Julien Baker, Kamasi Washington, Kehlani, Kelela, Lana Del Rey, Lapsley, Lauv, LCD Soundsystem, Lettuce, Lionel Richie, Lizzo, Lord Huron, LP, Major Lazer, Margo Price, Marian Hill, Methyl Ethel, Miguel, Miike Snow, Moon Taxi, N.E.R.D., Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Odesza, Oh Wonder, Outside Clams, Outside Lands, Outside Lands 2016, Outside Lands Castland, Outside Lands Forest Feast, Outside Lands Music Festival, Outside Lands Music Festival 2016, Outside Lands Music Festival 2018, Outside Lands night shows, Peaches, Perfume Genius, Poliça, Poolside, Quinn XCII, Ra Ra Riot, Radiohead, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Rogue Wave, Ryan Adams, Sabrina Claudio, Shannon and the Clams, Smokepurpp, snakehips, St. Lucia, Sufjan Stevens, Tash Sultana, The Back Wine, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, The Growlers, The Internet, The Knocks, The Last Shadow Puppets, The Mountain Goats, The Weeknd, The West Coast Get Down, Third Eye Blind, Thomas Jack, Tokimonsta, Tortoise & The Pimps, Tycho, Vince Staples, Washington and The West Coast Get Down, Whethan, Years & Years, Zedd

The National continue to prove they’re one of the best bands out there today

August 2, 2016 by Kevin J Quandt 1 Comment

Photos by Steve Carlson // Written by Kevin Quandt //

The National with The Lone Bellow //
The Greek Theatre – Berkeley, CA
July 29th, 2016 //

A rather convincing argument can be made for The National being one of the most significant bands in rock ‘n’ roll over the past decade. Friday night’s return to the Greek Theatre at U.C. Berkeley continued to assist this argument as Matt Berninger and company played a stunning show to a growing, devout crowd on a quintessentially foggy Bay Area summer night. While this tour stop featured a slightly more subdued version of Berninger onstage, this evening wasn’t about his antics, but rather experimenting with a sizable handful of new tracks.

As large music festivals continue to dominate the landscape from May to October across the country and beyond, “non-shed” summer tours are becoming an endangered species. Luckily, The National have had their fill with these events and decided to take a little West Coast jaunt with fellow New York outfit The Lone Bellow, as the indie-leaning folk/blues group brought a surprising amount of energy to an already packed venue. There’s little doubt that frontman Zach Williams and his band won over new fans as their electric stage presence was pretty hard to deny through a genuine engagement with the crowd that was palpable.

The real headline from The National’s performance was hands down the new material that was debuted, pretty much across their entire set, encore included. A rather standard opening of “Don’t Swallow the Cap” and “I Should Live in Salt” led into our first taste of the band’s upcoming LP in the form of “Checking Out”. Though many locals likely recognized this track from last year’s Treasure Island Music Festival (read our review here), it has tightened up over the past year and even begins to sound familiar as the Brooklyn-based five-piece begins to weave in more electronic, synth-like elements.

As much as this sounds like a surprising move, one that could be seen as a risk, the foreign instrumentation is falling nicely into place as fans begin to get a broader scope of the group’s seventh full length. “Find a Way” is another example of this shifting sound, one that could be attributed to Berninger’s side project EL VY, which he formed with Brent Knopf of Menomena, from the past year. Similar to other indie-rock bands like The Walkmen, The National are on a keen path to continually evolving their sound as they age with their stunning catalog.

Other highlights from the Greek show was the sole West Coast rendition of “Slow Show”, an always-blistering rendition of “England” and a nod to the Grateful Dead and their home turf. While many in the know were aware that Bob Weir was playing a little more than 100 miles away in Wheatland, Calif., that still didn’t stop Berninger from offering a guest tease as the group quipped about his past sit-in from 2014 and launched into the Bonnie Dobson track “Morning Dew”. Though this may have been the shortest rendition of the track many Dead fans have heard, it was Berninger’s baritone vocals that added an intense weight to the GD classic. The connection that The National’s five core members seem to have to the music of the Dead is unwavering, and as they gear up for the live debut of the album, one can only imagine how special the Eaux Claires set next weekend in Eau Claire, Wis., will be.

Berkeley received a fairly similar encore to the one the band performed the previous night in Los Angeles, though theirs had Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, singing on new ballad “Prom Song 13th Century (Frankie & Johnny)” and Adam Granduciel of The War on Drugs playing along to “Terrible Love”. On this night, Berninger was the sole spectacle for the band’s final songs as he climbed into the crowd, eventually making his way about halfway up the stone seats while getting the occasional “vocal guest” on a raucous version of “Mr. November”. Berninger is one helluva frontman and is truly a massive appeal to their live performance. Watching him onstage can be compared to other “mad geniuses” like Monet, as witnessing the cathartic process of a man pour his soul out to others is one that is both personal and increasingly hard to look away from.

Setlist:
Don’t Swallow the Cap
I Should Live in Salt
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Checking Out (new song)
Afraid of Everyone
Squalor Victoria
I Need My Girl
This Is the Last Time
Sometimes I Don’t Think (new song)
Find a Way (new song)
Sea of Love
Slow Show
The Lights (new song)
Pink Rabbits
England
Morning Dew (Bonnie Dobson cover)
Fake Empire
The Day I Die (new song)

Encore:
Prom Song 13th Century (Frankie & Johnny) (new song)
Mr. November
Terrible Love

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: The Greek Theater, The Lone Bellow, The National

Modest Mouse and Brand New aren’t ‘Strangers’ to each other, but their fans are a different story

August 1, 2016 by Josh Herwitt 1 Comment

Modest Mouse

By Josh Herwitt //

Modest Mouse & Brand New //
Kia Forum – Inglewood, CA
July 27th, 2016 //

When Modest Mouse announced back in late January that they would be hitting the road this summer for a co-headlining tour with Brand New, it was somewhat surprising to see the two bands team up for 24 dates across the U.S.

While both groups attained critical acclaim around the same time — Modest Mouse first with their seminal album The Moon & Antarctica in 2000 and Brand New a few years later thanks to their sophomore LP Deja Entendu in 2003 — that’s where most of the comparisons seem to end. Modest Mouse, after all, have long been influenced by Talking Heads and the early 90’s alt-/indie-rock scene, with pioneers like the Pixies and Pavement leading (or should we say paving?) the way, whereas Brand New earned their keep touring with such emo/pop-punk outfits as Taking Back Sunday, New Found Glory, Good Charlotte, Dashboard Confessional and Blink-182. Ah yes, punk at its height in the early 2000’s … how we don’t miss those days.

But if there’s one other link between them, it’s Modest Mouse’s early punk aesthetics and their years playing at DIY venues before attaining mainstream status with their hit single “Float On” from 2004’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News. And although the raw, schizophrenic sound Isaac Brock has churned out over the last two decades as the band’s primary songwriter has never been analogous with what Brand New have put forth in the studio, Modest Mouse’s loose punk ties made it a little more understandable to see them paired with the Long Island product for a month-long run that included a stop in LA last Wednesday night at Kia Forum.

Brand New

Of course, for as much as I tried to rationalize the billing in my head, every indication inside the venue told me otherwise. The show, which was originally scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., was delayed multiple times — first until 7:50 p.m., then 7:55 p.m. before settling on 8 p.m. — because, from what I was told, there were not enough fans in the stands (cue the classic “LA traffic” excuse). So when Brand New arrived onstage just after the hour, the crowd of mostly 20-somethings and those of us in our early 30’s were finally ready to absorb everything Jesse Lacey (lead vocals, guitars), Vincent Accardi (guitars, backing vocals), Garrett Tierney (bass), Brian Lane (drums) and touring member Benjamin Homola (percussion) threw our way.

For this tour, Modest Mouse and Brand New had agreed to rotate opening and closing duties, and on this night, Brand New had drawn the “opener” card much to the dismay of their fans. By the time they had run through “Sink” and “Gasoline” from their most recent release Daisy to open the show, a stadium full of Brand New fans (or at least that’s what it looked like) was hanging onto every word that Lacey screamed. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t get the full 90-minute set they were promised due to the delay at the outset, and Brand New, as a result, were forced to cut their performance short by two or three songs. Yet, it wasn’t until Modest Mouse hit the stage that I noticed how many Brand New fans had already left the building.

Modest Mouse

It took almost eight years on the dot for Modest Mouse to release their sixth full-length effort Strangers to Ourselves last March, and in that time, there was plenty of turmoil to go around. For starters, they went to Atlanta to work with Big Boi, but after recording five songs with the Outkast rapper and a number of top-notch session musicians, Brock subsequently decided to scrap them. Shortly thereafter, founding member and bassist Eric Judy left the band as well as percussionist Joe Plummer, signaling a major change to the group’s lineup just five years after topping the U.S. Billboard 200 with 2007’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. Brock, at one point during the recording of Strangers, even brought in former Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic before realizing his style wasn’t suited for an album that strays in a variety of sonic directions (read our community review here).

For as chaotic as the recording process was though, Brock didn’t let it tear the band apart. Instead, he recruited multi-instrumentalists Russell Higbee and Lisa Molinaro along with percussionists Davey Brozowski and Ben Massarella to join Modest Mouse, turning what started as a trio of friends from the Seattle area into a touring machine of eight. And from what Brock has revealed in one interview, it might not be long before LP7 drops (it could actually arrive later this year) as the expected companion piece to Strangers.

Back at Kia Forum, Brock and company didn’t unveil any new music from their next LP (that would be too good to be true, right?), but they did dive deep into their catalog, going back all the way to 1996 with cuts from their debut LP This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About and second EP Interstate 8 during a set that lasted about two hours — a pleasant surprise for any Modest Mouse fan who stuck around until the very end. In fact, despite all of the critics who have lambasted Brock for being too inebriated at the band’s shows, what still makes Modest Mouse so fun and exciting to see live are the setlists they craft for each gig. It’s no secret over the years that the octet has made a point of choosing different songs to perform night in and night out, and in a similar fashion, it followed suit on this latest jaunt with Brand New, whose setlists didn’t vary all that much in comparison. As much as that didn’t matter to the many who showed up and bounced early, it’s tough to say whether we will ever see these two bands billed together again. Judging from the audience’s behavior however, we certainly wouldn’t count on it.

MODEST MOUSE

Setlist:
The World at Large
The Tortoise and the Tourist
Bury Me With It
Dashboard
Interstate 8
The Ground Walks, With Time in a Box
Custom Concern
This Devil’s Workday
Bukowski
Pistol (A. Cunanan, Miami, FL. 1996)
Dark Center of the Universe
Tiny Cities Made of Ashes
Dramamine
Lampshades on Fire
Sleepwalking
Fly Trapped in a Jar

Encore:
Trailer Trash
Wicked Campaign
Doin’ the Cockroach
Strangers to Ourselves

BRAND NEW

Setlist:
Sink
Gasoline
Millstone
At the Bottom
Noro
Tautou
Sic Transit Gloria…Glory Fades
Okay I Believe You, but My Tommy Gun Don’t
Degausser
Jesus
Luca
Sowing Season

Encore:
Play Crack the Sky
I Am a Nightmare
You Won’t Know (with “Tautou” outro)

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Big Boi, Brand New, Kia Forum, Modest Mouse, Nirvana, The Forum

Nas preaches positivity while closing out this year’s Sound in Focus series in style

July 25, 2016 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

Sound in Focus: Nas with Wild Belle //
Annenberg Space for Photography – Los Angeles
July 23rd, 2016 //

It’s hard to beat summer in LA. With longer days and warmer nights, there’s always so much to do in the City of Angels during this time of the year. But part of what makes summers in LA so special are the countless opportunities to see live music and best of all, for free. From the Twilight Concert Series on Thursday nights at the Santa Monica Pier to Saturdays Off the 405 at the Getty Museum, you can catch a show — if not multiple shows — in LA every week from July to September for little to no money.

Right along those lines, KCRW’s Sound in Focus concert series is just another reason why summertime in LA has its advantages. For the past few years, the NPR member station has shown its appreciation for photography by welcoming a wide array of musicians, including indie-rock stalwarts like Portugal. The Man, Band of Skulls, TV on the Radio and Cold War Kids (read our review of their 2015 show here), to what was once unchartered territory as far as concert spaces in LA go. And in many ways, the Annenberg Space for Photography, as a result, has proven to be the perfect location for KCRW to combine its love for music and the arts by offering fans of all ages the chance to explore the museum’s newest exhibit and see well-established artists perform for free with a simple RSVP online.

After last year’s roster, which featured old-school hip-hop group De La Soul and country music legend Dwight Yoakam as headliners, it was somewhat surprising to see Grammy-nominated rapper Nas (born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones) listed next to psych-folk collective Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and eventually Senegalese singer/guitarist Baaba Maal when the 2016 Sound in Focus lineup dropped last month (Maal’s performance was revealed at a later date). Not because KCRW had booked a hip-hop act for a second straight year, but more that it had booked a hip-hop act of Nas’ stature. You don’t have to look much further than his two million Twitter followers, in stark contrast to Edward Sharpe’s 105,000 and Maal’s 5,750, to understand that. It should go without saying then that Mr. Jones is easily the biggest artist KCRW has ever booked for Sound in Focus in its three years running.

On the other hand though, Nas hasn’t released an album in more than four years. Better yet, it’s been more than three since the Brooklyn native disclosed he had begun work on his 12th studio album, the follow-up to 2012’s Life Is Good. In this day and age of instant gratification, that’s often three years too long to keep fans waiting. With so many options to choose from, it’s becoming harder and harder to remain relevant, even for a hip-hop artist of Nas’ caliber.

But there’s also something to be said for releasing eight straight platinum records, even if Nas doesn’t have any Grammys to go along with them. So, if last Saturday’s show was supposed to be Nas’ reminder to the world that he’s still working and grinding like he always has since the early 90’s, then a whole lot of fans got to hear that message loud and clear after Wild Belle’s opening set.

With the anticipation building, Nas arrived onstage with energy and purpose, immediately diving into his I Am…. anthem “Hate Me Now” that’s almost two decades old at this point. A little bit later, he would end up waxing poetic on “One Mic”, the third single off his 2001 LP Stillmatic that was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award. Yet, more important than the songs Nas chose to perform or the albums he drew from was the postivity he preached to the crowd before calling it a night. At a time of racial and social unrest in the U.S., he imparted optimism and encouraged everyone who stood before him to chase their dreams, whatever they may be. For an emcee who once proclaimed that “hip-hop is dead,” that’s seemingly quite a change in rhetoric.

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Annenberg Space for Photography, Baaba Maal, Band of Skulls, Cold War Kids, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, KCRW, Nas, Portugal. The Man, Sound in Focus, TV on the Radio, Wild Belle

Taste of Chaos closes out its 2016 tour in SoCal offering a sweaty, giddy blast through the past

July 20, 2016 by Zach Bourque Leave a Comment

Saosin

By Zach Bourque //

Taste of Chaos //
San Manuel Amphitheater – San Bernardino, CA
July 16th, 2016 //

Fans of all walks of life packed into San Bernardino’s San Manual Amphitheater last Saturday for the final date on Rockstar’s 2016 Taste of Chaos Tour. For the uninitiated, Taste of Chaos is an internationally recognized brand that garnered huge popularity throughout much of the late 2000’s, making a name for itself with live tours that spanned the globe from Australia to America. With lineups featuring some of the biggest names in emo, hardcore and punk, the festivals quickly gained a reputation as something of an alternative Warped Tour, giving fans across the globe a chance to see acts they’d otherwise never get the chance to experience.

Though the tour called it quits in 2010, Taste of Chaos returned in 2015 for a one-off, sold-out festival date at San Manual featuring genre stalwarts like Thrice and The Used among others. It was a resounding success. One year later, the tour has now grown into a gargantuan, 37-city trek for 2016. The exponential growth speaks volumes to the rekindled interest in the genre, not to mention the prospect for some serious cash money for all parties involved.

Last Saturday was a special date on the tour. Not only did it close out Taste of Chaos for 2016, but it gave organizers the chance to expand the tour into a proper festival, much like the year before. Half a dozen additional acts were added, all keeping in line with the brand’s ambition. The end result was a sweaty, giddy blast through the past celebrating all the music we’re still ashamed to appreciate.

Taking Back Sunday

This year’s touring lineup of Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional, Saosin and The Early November was joined by a variety of acts that ranged from 90’s post-hardcore pioneers Quicksand to pop-punk poster boys The Starting Line. Despite only having one stage for the entire roster of artists, festival organizers virtually eliminated changeover time with a unique lazy Susan-type setup that allowed the stage to rotate 180 degrees between sets, ensuring that a band was primed and ready to rock at all times.

Anytime you get a bunch of has-been bands together for a reunion show or tour, the results can be a bit unpredictable. Fortunately, nearly all of them sounded tight and well-rehearsed, with some bands like Saosin sounding the best they’ve ever had. Featuring its original singer Anthony Green of Circa Survive fame and fresh off the release of its latest studio album Along the Shadows, the post-hardcore outfit hailing from Newport Beach were incredible live, with Green possessing a manic energy onstage that other bands on the festival bill simply couldn’t compete with. Other notable highlights included a fan-favorite set from Taking Back Sunday and a refreshingly gritty performance from founding fathers Quicksand, who gained many new fans on this particular day.

While we’ll argue that charging $5 for a bottle of water is nothing short of appalling and that San Bernardino itself is a bit of a sweaty cesspool, the 2016 edition of Taste of Chaos was an undisputed success. You may not dig all the bands — and here’s looking at you Dashboard Confessional — but for fans of the genre, it’s tough to beat the total package that Taste of Chaos puts together. Here’s looking forward to 2017.

Taste of Chaos 2016 - Taking Back Sunday

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Festivals Tagged With: Dashboard Confessional, Early November, Quicksand, Saosin, Senses Fail, Taking Back Sunday, Taste of Chaos, Taste of Chaos 2016, The Starting Line

BØRNS doesn’t need Taylor Swift’s help to prove he’s one of music’s fastest-rising stars

July 18, 2016 by Josh Herwitt 2 Comments

By Josh Herwitt //

BØRNS with Porches //
Santa Monica Pier – Santa Monica, CA
July 14th, 2016 //

When the Twilight Concert Series announced the artist lineup for its 32nd edition this spring, it was safe to say that KCRW had curated one of its best rosters to date. In the last few years, the NPR member station on the campus of Santa Monica College has undoubtedly upped its game, booking buzz-worthy acts from a wide variety of musical genres for 10 straight weeks starting in July. From reggae and soul to Latin and disco, live music at the Santa Monica Pier on Thursday nights has become a summer staple in Los Angeles.

But in all my years attending the Twilight Concert Series’ shows, never have I seen the Santa Monica Pier like it was last Thursday when I arrived with more than an hour to spare before BØRNS’ headlining set. The concert viewing area, for one, was already at maximum capacity, forcing security and local law enforcement to block the main entrance and not allow anyone else in. The problem for me was, the only way to reach the media check-in tent to receive my credentials was through the same entry point into the concert. I won’t get into the details of how I had to obtain my credentials for the show, but let’s just say it was far from ideal and required plenty of patience. After all, they say patience is a virtue, right?

On this night, that proverbial phrase seemingly rang true. It wasn’t just that BØRNS most likely amassed the largest attendance in the history of the Twilight Concert Series, but also the fact that it was easily one of the best shows I’ve ever witnessed at the Santa Monica Pier. One could certainly point to the opening of the Expo Line extension as a reason for the larger crowds so far this summer, which wasn’t all that noticeable during the series’ opening night with Mayer Hawthorne (read our review of the show here) just the week prior, but that would simply be underestimating the exponential rise of Garrett Borns’ eponymous project. Since he relocated to Los Angeles in 2013 and signed with Interscope Records, the Michigan native has gone from supporting modest indie bands like MisterWives to selling out shows as a headliner in a matter of a year.

While much of BØRNS’ ascent can be attributed to the commercial success of his 2015 debut studio album Dopamine, which peaked at No. 24 on the U.S. Billboard 200, he can also thank Taylor Swift for getting the word out there fairly early. The pop superstar gave his first single “Electric Love” a ringing endorsement on her Instagram account well over a year ago, and 723,000 likes later, the 24-year-old has continued to grow his fan base with subsequent hits like “The Emotion” and “10,000 Emerald Pools”.

At the Santa Monica Pier, BØRNS only performed the latter of those two songs while playing almost all of his 11-track LP from front to back. But it was the covers he doled out that really stole the show, winning the hearts of first-timers like myself and even more dedicated fans who knew what to expect from “Garrett the Great” as he once called himself. Starting with The Smith’s “Shoplifters of the World Unite” and taking things up a notch with Elton John’s “Bennie and the Jets” minutes later, he did justice to both songs, hitting the high notes in the midst of Sir Elton’s chart-topping smash with relative ease. Yet, as part of a three-song encore that opened with Dopamine cut “Clouds”, it was the last two offerings of the night that proved to be just as thrilling to hear from a songwriter with plenty of promise.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more important indie-rock band over the past decade than Arcade Fire, and not many contemporary artists have been bold enough to cover their work (the most recent one that comes to mind is Father John Misty’s rendition of “The Suburbs”). BØRNS, nevertheless, wasn’t afraid to take on one of Win Butler and company’s earliest hits, pumping the crowd full of energy for the final hurrah during “Rebellion (Lies)”. Of course, just when I thought I couldn’t be any more surprised by what I had already heard from Mr. Borns, the long-haired, bare-chested Midwesterner dropped David Bowie’s “Heroes” on us and somehow managed to give LCD Soundsystem’s cover at Coachella a run for its money. With those kind of chops in your early 20’s, who needs T-Swift’s public approval anyway?

Setlist:
Seeing Stars
Dopamine
Dug My Heart
Shoplifters of the World Unite (The Smiths cover)
10,000 Emerald Pools
Holy Ghost
Bennie and the Jets (Elton John cover)
Past Lives
Overnight Sensation
American Money
Electric Love

Encore:
Clouds
Rebellion (Arcade Fire cover)
Heroes (David Bowie cover)

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Arcade Fire, BØRNS, Coachella, Coachella 2016, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2016, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2016, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2016, David Bowie, KCRW, LCD Soundsystem, Porches, Santa Monica Pier, Taylor Swift, Twilight Concert Series

Bay Area talent shines at Phono del Sol in 2016

July 15, 2016 by Norm de Veyra Leave a Comment

Born Ruffians

By Norm de Veyra //

Phono del Sol Music Festival //
Potrero del Sol Park – San Francisco
July 9th, 2016 //

It was all chill vibes and good tunes last Saturday as The Bay Bridged held their sixth annual Phono del Sol Music Festival in SF.

Brooklyn synthpop duo Chairlift headlined the event with an energetic, golden-hour set that produced a synchronized-swaying dance party from the crowd. Equally as impressive were Canadian indie rockers Alvvays, who may have provided far fewer dance moves with their tunes but still delivered an engaging show.

Yet, the real notables from the fest were the more homegrown acts like Dick Stusso, Adam Vida, Hot Flash Heat Wave, The Seshen and The She’s. Highlighting up-and-coming local talent has always been part of the Phono del Sol mission statement from the start, and last weekend proved yet again you don’t have to venture far to find great music in the Bay Area.

2016 Phono del Sol Music Festival - Dick Stusso

2016 Phono del Sol Music Festival - Alvvays

2016 Phono del Sol Music Festival - Adam Vida

2016 Phono del Sol Music Festival - Hot Flash Heat Wave

2016 Phono del Sol Music Festival - The She's

2016 Phono del Sol Music Festival - The Seshen

2016 Phono del Sol Music Festival - Chairlift

2016 Phono del Sol Music Festival - Mr. Little Jeans

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Festivals Tagged With: Adam Vida, Alvvays, Chairlift, Dick Stusso, Hot Flash Heat Wave, Mr. Little Jeans, Phono Del Sol, Phono del Sol 2016, Phono del Sol Music Festival, Phono del Sol Music Festival 2016, The Seshen, The SHE'S

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016: A colorful palette to feed the soul

July 14, 2016 by tom dellinger 1 Comment

By Tom Dellinger //

Waterfront Blues Festival //
Tom McCall Waterfront Park – Portland, OR
July 1st-4th, 2016 //

Portland is a remarkable city. It’s a city I’ve found to be one of the most hospitable I’ve ever encountered, and it was once again a great pleasure to cover their annual Waterfront Blues Festival over the Fourth of July weekend.

Now in its 29th year running, the Waterfront Blues Festival remains an anomaly in the world of modern music festivals. With a daily entrance cost of only $10 per day, though other levels are available like patron and benefactor which offer more perks, they continue sell out at all levels and annually raise surprisingly large amounts to donate to the Oregon Food Bank. This year they once again raised a stunning $1 million dollars! Represented in the musical lineup were artists ranging from the Portland area to California, Louisiana, Brazil and Nigeria with several of the higher-profile artists — JJ Grey & Mofro, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Samantha Fish, The California Honeydrops and Femi Kuti — also appearing at High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, Calif., over the weekend.

Over the course of four days, there was a lot to take in. The festival featured two large stages at opposite ends of the main field, and beyond that, there were also a couple of smaller intimate stages — one offering a one-on-one opportunity with festivalgoers and the other with a dance floor. Both Portland and the Northwest in general have a wealth of excellent musicians to pull from, and every year I see a few new faces in addition to some I’ve witnessed a few times over the years. Local guitarists Ty Curtis and Ben Rice have become a couple of my favorites, and the soulful vocals of Andy Stokes and LaRhonda Steele never fail me. They always seem to provide memorable performances.

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Christone Ingram

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

There were many memorable moments over the holiday weekend, but one in particular came late in the day on July 4th as Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and Ty Curtis sat in with Samantha Fish. At just the age of 17, Ingram already has a few years of touring and recording behind him and has always been considered to be one with great potential. During his set on Saturday, it was obvious he was making good on that. He had a stronger stage presence, his voice more matured and the guitar work more expansive. It was a solid set that was well-received.

But on the festival’s final day as he, Curtis and Fish were taking things “out there,” Ingram let loose with some blistering hot runs, which in turn drove Curtis and Fish all that much harder. And the fans were loving it as if they were on a wild ride with no limits. Once the dust settled, everybody knew this was one of the great moments of the weekend with smiles all around.

Another standout performance came from Portland-based vocalist Liv Warield, a member of The New Power Generation who performed alongside Prince for several years. She reached out to members of TNPG as well as other locals to put together a tribute for Prince in a way she said he would want to be remembered. In addition to some Prince songs, there were also some of her own (Prince co-wrote songs with her) as well as from other artists whom Prince liked to play or cover. It was a riveting and powerful performance.

Igor Prado Band

I always appreciate an international element at music festivals, and we had a few overseas acts again this year. The great Femi Kuti & The Positive Force played a stunning set with a large band that was heavy on horns, percussion and dancers as they worked a passionate performance in the Afrobeat style of his late father, Fela Kuti.

Hailing from Brazil was the Igor Prado Band, whose passion and understanding of this very American music form is undeniable. Prado is riveting on guitar, both for his playing and for his stage presence. The man knows how to work a crowd. They were also joined by keyboard ace Jim Pugh (who was in on many sets over the weekend) and Portland-based Curtis Salgado on harp and vocals.

Another big surprise came from Bay Area artist Aki Kumar. With a strong backing band at the singer’s side that featured Christoffer “Kid” Andersen on guitar, Derrick “D’mar” Martin on drums, Vance Ehlers on bass and Jim Pugh on keyboards, they played a wildly fun set that featured blues mashed up with Bollywood. It worked very well, and the crowd loved them.

Royal Jelly Jive

There were artists who stretch what we might expect at a blues festival. Few embody that idea more than Los Straightjackets. Sure. Why not? We all need surf music from time to time, and these guys are fun to watch as well.

Bay Area collective Royal Jelly Jive defy categorization. With strong elements of swing, they nevertheless have a very modern sound with smart, well-crafted songs that both swing and rock a crowd, which is exactly what they did. In addition to being a fun band to watch, their unique sound and style made them a standout.

Ayron Jones and the Way were interesting. Though they are heavily blues-based, at times it felt like head-banging metal. What a kick that was!

Tedeschi Trucks Band

Few bands seem to be so universally loved and admired more than Tedeschi Trucks Band, and on the festival’s opening night, they gave us one of their sublime sets. It was a perfect night in Portland with the Willamette River in the background and the band running through another one of its flawless, tasty performances, marking an elegant start to the festival.

Over the weekend, many names we’ve come to know and love made an appearance. Maceo Parker, Dr. John, Jimmie Vaughan, ZZ Ward, JJ Grey & Mofro and The California Honeydrops were all exciting sets to see. It was a festival that was rich in many ways. The diversity. The quality. The vibe. Even the weather was about perfect (last year it was in the 90’s).

Portland remains an impressive city that knows how to throw one hell of a party. I continue to be impressed with all they are able to accomplish, and this festival is at the top of the list. Big props to the city, the artists, the staff and the volunteers who make it all possible. I can’t wait for next year.

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Aki Kumar

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Christoffer Andersen

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Tedeschi Trucks Band

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - The California Honeydrops

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Bruno Speight with Maceo Parker

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - ZZ Ward

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Ty Curtis

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Lloyd Jones

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Samantha Fish

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Femi Kuti

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Polyrhythmics

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Liv Warfield

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Ayron Jones and the Way

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Los Straightjackets

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Karen Lovely

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Dr. John

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Jimmie Vaughan

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Derrick "D'mar" Martin

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Ken DeRouchie Band

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - LaRhonda Steele

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Maceo Parker

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - JJ Grey & Mofro

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Jody Carroll

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Christone Ingram with Samantha Fish

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Billy Horton with Jimmy Vaughn

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - Mike Rinta with Jimmy Vaughn

Waterfront Blues Festival 2016 - California Honeydrops

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Festivals Tagged With: Aki Kumar, Ayron Jones and the Way, Bruno Speight, Christoffer Andersen, D'mar, Dr. John, Femi Kuti, Femi Kuti & The Positive Force, Igor Prado Band, Jimmie Vaughan, JJ Grey, JJ Grey & Mofro, Jody Carroll, Karen Lovely, Ken DeRouchie Band, LaRhonda Steele, Liv Warield, Lloyd Jones, Los Straightjackets, Maceo Parker, Polyrhythmics, Royal Jelly Jive, Samantha Fish, Tedeschi Trucks Band, The California Honeydrops, The New Power Generation, Tom McCall Waterfront Park, Ty Curtis, Waterfront Blues Festival, ZZ Ward

Our 10 favorite shows from the first half of 2016

July 1, 2016 by The Bam Team Leave a Comment

2016 has been a rough year so far for music fans. We’ve watched legends like Prince, David Bowie, Merle Haggard, Phife Dawg, Ralph Stanley and most recently Bernie Worrell all pass on, leaving us stunned and saddened to see them go.

But this year has also provided those of us living in the great state of California with plenty of memorable moments in live music, from Noise Pop to Coachella and beyond. And with half of 2016 already in the rearview mirror (can you believe it?!?!), we thought now would be as good of a time as any to revisit the best performances we’ve witnessed over the past six months.

So, after careful consideration, we present our 10 favorite shows from the first half of 2016.

10. Ty Segall

When it comes to Segall and his live show, there’s really no way to sugarcoat it — the guy is an animal, ready to rip, claw and bite (or just spit) his way through a performance. And in many ways, it’s refreshing to see a musician who has little to no filter when he takes the stage. Just like his music, which borders on garage rock and glam rock and intertwines psychedelic and punk elements into it, his shows are raw and full of emotion. -Josh Herwitt, photo by Josh Herwitt

9. The Last Shadow Puppets

I don’t think I had been to a show in a long time in which the girls were screaming like they were watching The Beatles. The girls were going crazy for Turner, including throwing things on the stage (unfortunately we can’t say for sure if there were any bras or panties that flew through the air). -Rachel Goodman, photo by Diana Cordero

8. The Kills

As with any Kills show, the band was raw, untamed and ready to sonically destroy everything in their path. This was achieved by Hince’s voracious guitar playing, which saw him coxing a plethora of harmonically distorted riffs, with Mosshart taking duties on rhythm guitar when needed. -James Pawlish, photo by James Pawlish

7. Bob Moses

At Mezzanine, both Howie and Vallance proved their prowess as EDM innovators, bringing more to the stage than a couple of laptops and a pretty light show. Surprising those unfamiliar with their work or expecting to be underwhelmed, Bob Moses have elevated the live electronic game for their respective contemporaries and succeeded in defining a new chapter for the genre — an innovative sound standard that’s all their own. -Molly Kish, photo by Lisette Worster

6. Mac DeMarco

The 26-year-old king of slacker rock, who over the past few years has become a fan favorite of many Bay Area audiophiles, never seems to hold back when he comes to town. His first night in SF last week saw him jump from The Indy’s balcony into an awaiting crowd (a feat that was later imitated by a female audience member at The Warfield the next night), run around half naked while playing new songs and perform a 25-minute cover of Eric Clapton’s 1971 hit single “Layla” with fart solos sprinkled throughout. -James Pawlish, photo by James Pawlish

5. Guns N’ Roses

When it came time to deliver, the original trio of Axl, Slash and bassist Duff McKagan most certainly did, while rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus and drummer Frank Ferrer proved to be more than suitable fill-ins for Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler/Matt Sorum. Meanwhile, the surprise appearance by Angus Young couldn’t have come at a much better time after the announcement was made minutes before GNR’s set that Rose will be filling in for Brian Johnson on AC/DC’s remaining tour dates this year. -Josh Herwitt, photo courtesy of Coachella

4. Young Thug

With his back momentarily turned to the camera-phone flash before the lighting guys again joined the party, Atlanta’s favorite outlander appeared to just take a moment. The point in time could have been one of appreciation or something else on a completely different side of the pendulum. That ambiguity is what seems to keep Young Thug and his pundits going. -Joseph Gray, photo by Joseph Gray

3. Sia

With the Australian artist standing in the back of the stage, her set was more performance art than it was pop music. While her face was hidden thanks to her trademark wig, Sia’s voice stood front and center as she belted out every note to hits like “Diamonds”, “Bird Set Free” and “Titanium”. -Brett Ruffenach, photo courtesy of Coachella

2. Moderat

It’s no surprise that Moderat have made waves in the genre given their well-established roots in Modeselektor (Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary) and Apparat (Sascha Ring). What has been surprising, however, is their ability to step outside the conventions of both parent acts and craft something truly their own. -Zach Bourque, photo by Josh Herwitt

1. LCD Soundsystem

I have seen many concerts as well as attended many festivals in my life, but this was truly among the most beautiful moments in live music I have ever experienced. Wrapping up their headlining performance with “All My Friends”, LCD Soundsystem proved to be among the top artists to ever grace the festival’s main stage. -Brett Ruffenach, photo courtesy of Coachella

What has been your favorite show of 2016 so far? Let us know in the comments section below!

Filed Under: Best of, Best of 2016, Editor's Picks, Featured Tagged With: Best of 2016, Bob Moses, Coachella, Coachella 2016, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Music and Arts Festival 2016, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2016, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2016, Guns N' Roses, LCD Soundsystem, Mac Demarco, Moderat, Sia, The Kills, The Last Shadow Puppets, Ty Segall, Ty Segall & The Muggers, Young Thug

Five emerging artists you need to hear

June 28, 2016 by Krystal Beez Leave a Comment

Written by Krystal Beez //

Get familiar with these five emerging artists.

1. SOPHIA SOMAJO

Who: Sophia Somajo

Origin: Stockholm, Sweden

What she’s about: They must be putting something in the water in Sweden. The amount of exemplary pop music that has come from the Scandinavian country is insane, and its latest export, Sophia Somajo, is no different. Somajo first arrived on the scene back in 2007 with a complete DIY project, The Laptop Diaries, and now, she’s back. “Sapphire” is the stuff that delicious pop dreams are made of. It’s got a hook made of gold. Just add in some dark fringes, and you’ll be hooked. This track has been stuck on repeat since my first listen. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

File next to: Sia. Charli XCX. MO.

Follow: Facebook. Soundcloud. Twitter. Spotify.

2. MAGGIE ROGERS

Who: Maggie Rogers

Origin: Maryland

What she’s about: Maggie Rogers is a student at the NYU Clive Davis Institute. You may have seen this video on Facebook during which she plays a song of hers for Pharrell Williams, and his reaction is amazing. That video has gone viral, and the track, “Alaska”, is now available on iTunes. Rogers combines folk, dance and a self-proclaimed genre of movement/feelings in her music. “I wanted to make dance music, or pop music, feel as human as possible,” Rogers recently told Pigeons & Planes. Do yourself a favor and have a listen. That chorus has all the feelings and makes me move. Keep an eye on the name.

File next to: Sylvan Esso. Oh Land. Niki & The Dove.

Follow: Facebook. Soundcloud. Twitter. Spotify.

3. TERROR JR

Who: I just know there are three of them.

Origin: New York? LA? Canada? Greenland?

What they’re about: This enigmatic trio has been keeping its identity on the down low for now (remember when no one knew who ZHU was?), and its first track “3 Strikes” was featured in a Kylie Jenner commercial a few months ago. While some people are convinced that it is, in fact, Jenner singing, The FADER tells a different story. What I do know is that “3 Strikes” is on point, riding a similar wave as Kiiara, with light, airy vocals over a hypnotizing beat. And now “Sugar” has been released, and I am officially hooked. Terror Jr can seemingly do no wrong.

File next to: Kiiara. Felix Snow. The Chainsmokers.

Follow: Facebook. Soundcloud. Twitter. Spotify.

4. JORJA SMITH

Who: Jorja Smith

Origin: Walsall, England

What she’s about: Jorja Smith first came on the scene back in January with the poignant “Blue Lights”, which ignited more than 100,000 plays on Soundcloud in a week. The song was written as part of a school project that asked Smith and her classmates to dissect the legacy of post-colonialism in grime. It quickly put the 18-year-old on the map as she drew comparisons to Amy Winehouse and Lauryn Hill. Since then, Smith has dropped a track entitled “A Prince” featuring English-Irish singer/rapper Maverick Sabre and her latest cut “Where Did I Go”, cementing her place as an emerging R&B artist that you need to know.

File next to: NAO. Zak Abel. Lauryn Hill.

Follow: Facebook. Soundcloud. Twitter. Spotify.

5. ERA ISTREFI

Who: Era Istrefi

Origin: Pristina, Kosovo

What she’s about: Era Istrefi is an Albanian Kosovar singer-songwriter that comes from a family of singers. She has been on the scene in Europe since 2013 and won three Albanian Music Awards. Istrefi recently gained international attention after the release of her latest single “Bonbon”. From there, she signed to Sony Music Entertainment and Ultra Records. According to Spotify, she has the most plays in Hamburg, Germany. Check out “Bonbon”, which is my pick for song of the summer.

File next to: Rihanna. Dua Lipa. Major Lazer.

Follow: Facebook. Soundcloud. Twitter. Spotify.

Who is your favorite emerging artist? Let us know in the comments section below!

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, New Music Tagged With: Era Istrefi, Felix Snow, Jorja Smith, Maggie Rogers, New Artists, New Music, Sophia Somajo, Terror Jr

Wild Kingdom offers a slice of Burning Man in SF

June 15, 2016 by Laura Tsu Leave a Comment

By Laura Tsu //

Wild Kingdom: An Art Car & Fire Festival //
The Midway – San Francisco
June 11th, 2016 //

The Midway and The Dusty Rhino presented Wild Kingdom: An Art Car & Fire Festival on an alluring Saturday last weekend. The weather was sunny, numerous art cars made the trek to SF, participants donned their playa gear and the music didn’t stop all day. When the evening set, fire was certainly in no short supply.

The Dusty Rhino, a community camp at Burning Man, aims to unite people together through fire, electronic music and art. Their signature art car, a 29-feet rhino that projects fire from its horn, not only makes annual Burning Man appearances, but also makes stops at SF’s Burning Man Decompression, How Weird Street Festival, Opulent Temple Massive and more.

With two blocks of road roped off for the festival, the art cars had more than enough room to fill in the gaps and invite people on board. Along with The Dusty Rhino, other notable art cars included the bumblebee vehicle Apis Inlusio, the fire-breathing squirrel car Bassnut, the Air Pusher, the steel-horse car Chester (with plenty of combustion) and the Janky Barge.

The 14-hour party featured five stages of nonstop beats with headliners such as DJ Dan, The Scumfrog, Worthy and Tara Brooks, as well as a special guest appearance by Tycho.

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Festivals Tagged With: Burning Man, DJ Dan, Galen, Shiny Objects, Tara Brooks, The Dusty Rhino, The Scumfrog, Tycho, Wild Kingdom, Wild Kingdom 2016, Wild Kingdom: An Art Car & Fire Festival, Wild Kingdom: An Art Car & Fire Festival 2016, Worthy

The best & worst of Lightning in a Bottle 2016

June 10, 2016 by Josh Herwitt 3 Comments

Photos by Josh Herwitt & Melissa Herwitt // Written by Josh Herwitt //

Lightning in a Bottle //
San Antonio Recreation Area – Bradley, CA
May 25th-30th, 2016 //

Lightning in a Bottle (LIB) returned to San Antonio Recreation Area for a third straight year over Memorial Day weekend, serving as that perfect hangover cure for those still suffering from their post-Coachella blues.

Last year, we asked whether the “transformational” festival was undergoing a transformation of its own by shedding its boutique label to go mainstream (read the review here). Now, after paying another visit to Bradley, Calif., the answer to that question appears to be even clearer than before with LIB selling out once again, this time more than a week in advance. Vanessa Hudgens, no less, showed up!

But for as strong as this year’s artist lineup was, not everything went off without a hitch. In fact, there were enough logistical nightmares and bad vibes — believe it or not — to keep us from coming back next year.

So, with another edition of LIB in the books, here are our best and worst moments from 2016:

Best: Emancipator Ensemble

Portland-based musician Douglas Appling, better known by his stage name Emancipator, has been fusing hip-hop-flavored beats with downtempo electronica ever since he started writing his debut LP Soon It Will Be Cold Enough while attending the College of William & Mary. And in many ways, he’s still cooking up that same sonic recipe that borders on post-trip-hop with violinist Ilya Goldberg by his side, although it’s with his ensemble members that we get to see Appling serve as more than just an electronic music producer. At his Friday evening set on the festival’s main stage, Emancipator set the tone for the rest of the weekend, grooving to tracks from his latest studio album Seven Seas with a guitar in hand and a full band at his disposal, much like we saw at The Regency Ballroom last fall (see more photos from that show here).

Worst: The weather

Sitting more than 200 miles north of Los Angeles, San Antonio Recreation Area once again proved to bring hot days and cold nights to LIB. With temperatures peaking in the mid-80’s during the day and dipping into the low 50’s at night, adjusting to such a drastic change in climate is never easy, especially when you’re forced to brave the outdoors by camping in a dried-up lakebed. Whether you were sweating profusely or shivering in your sleep, it was nearly impossible to ever feel comfortable with the weather at LIB.

Best: Rubblebucket

LIB has always leaned heavily on electronic music while assembling its lineup, but in more recent years, the festival has also found room to include eclectic, female-fronted indie bands. Last year’s example was Poliça, the Minneapolis five-piece led by vocalist Channy Leaneagh. This year’s case in point was Rubblebucket, the more obscure, yet upbeat Brooklyn alt-dance outfit fronted by Annakalmia Traver. Playing very close to the same time slot on the Lightning Stage as Poliça did the year before, Rubblebucket, nevertheless, got festivalgoers moving after a scorchingly hot day in the sun, setting the bar for the rest of Saturday’s lineup as day turned to night. What makes Rubblebucket such a catch is their horns section that’s made up by Alex Toth (trumpet), Adam Dotson (trombone) and Traver (saxophone), who knows how to charm a crowd with her quirky stage banter.

Best: The Russ Liquid Test

Russ Liquid (born Russell Scott) broke onto the scene back in 2013 with his debut LP Foreign Frequency on STS9’s 1320 Records, fusing jazzy saxophone lines over dance beats much like Colorado livetronica duo Big Gigantic, who also performed at LIB this year, do for a living. But his “Test” set on Sunday at LIB was particularly special, as he stepped on the main stage with guitarist Andrew Block and drummer Nick Mercadel flanked on either side of him. The New Orleans trio laid down one funky groove after another for an hour and a half, at times sounding reminiscent of GRiZ, another electronic producer now based in Colorado who has featured Russ Liquid on his record label’s mix series titled “All Good Radio.” We weren’t all that familiar with Russ Liquid’s work prior to arriving at LIB, but his performance certainly intrigued us enough to want to hear more.

Worst: Crowds

With another sellout bringing more than 20,000 people to Bradley, LIB felt just as crowded as last year — something we never experienced at previous locations like Oak Canyon Park and Lake Skinner Recreational Area. After all, it’s no secret that part of the reason why The Do LaB settled on San Antonio Recreation Area was the fact that it could accommodate more “festies” and therefore, could sell more tickets as a result. But from a consumer’s standpoint, there are obvious drawbacks to that philosophy. Waiting for a shower, for instance, took as long as 2-3 hours depending on what time you got in line. Many of the food vendors had significant lines, taking as long as 15 minutes just to place your order. No one likes waiting in line in 85-degree heat, especially when your phone can’t get service. Part of what made LIB such a nice change-of-pace from Coachella was the sheer lack of crowds, but it was only a matter of time before big business won out, right?

Best: Moderat

Easily the most anticipated set of the weekend from this spectator’s vantage point, Moderat hadn’t toured since dropping a pair of EPs in 2014. But with the release of its third full-length album, aptly titled III, the Berlin-based supergroup comprised of Apparat’s Sascha Ring and Modeselektor members Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary were primed to make their mark on the final day of LIB — and that they did. Beginning with “Ghostmother” off their latest LP, Moderat ran through a good chunk of new material, but nothing ignited the crowd more than their new single “Reminder”, which remains one of our favorite songs of the year so far. As we witnessed a few days earlier in Los Angeles at The Fonda Theatre (read our show review here), the group’s dark, minimalist stage setup with psychedelic flourishes paired nicely with Ring’s ethereal vocals. Of all the other performances throughout the weekend, Moderat’s 90-minute set undoubtedly stood as one of the brightest moments of LIB 2016.

Worst: Trash

LIB has been tabbed as the “Greenest Festival in America” over the last five years, though you might not have known it while looking at the grounds this year. With the festival’s attendance numbers reaching an all-time high, trash has increasingly become a bigger issue at LIB. Sure, it’s easy to blame a bunch of inconsiderate festivalgoers for littering and not picking up after themselves, but a big part of the problem is simply a lack of trash cans and dumpsters near the stages and in the camping areas. Furthermore, LIB’s “pack it in, pack it out” motto just isn’t realistic at this point with the amount of attendees. Maybe that’s the reason why after leaving the festival, trash was spewed all over the street. We’re glad The Do LaB tried their best as they told us on the way out, but sometimes trying your best, especially after you’ve been running the same festival for more than a decade, just isn’t good enough.

Best: Chet Faker

I remember first learning of Chet Faker more than a couple years ago while researching the 2014 LIB lineup for this preview. At the time, the electronic-leaning singer-songwriter from Australia had yet to release a full-length album, which makes it all the more crazy to think that he has already reached festival headliner status in a little more than 24 months since then. But over that stretch, from his two-night run in LA at The Roxy Theatre to last year’s performance at FYF Fest, Nicholas James Murphy has grown his live show tremendously. There’s no question the full band setup has been the right call, affording the 27-year-old Melbourne native the opportunity to breathe new life into songs from his lone LP Built on Glass (read our review here), such as “Melt” and “Gold”. Yet, with only one studio album under his belt and a few festival headlining spots in 2016, including the spring edition of CRSSD Fest back in March, it’s just amazing to think where Murphy could go from here.

Worst: Leaving LIB

If the crowds and trash at LIB weren’t enough to leave a sour taste in your mouth by the end of the weekend, the disaster that ensued in the parking lot after the festival definitely was. Since I started attending concerts and music festivals years ago, I have never seen a bigger shitshow than the LIB parking lot by 9 a.m. on Monday. Taking five hours (yes, you read that right) just to leave San Antonio Recreation Area proved to be the ultimate test in patience for me as well as thousands of other festivalgoers. Of all the worst moments at LIB, this easily took the cake, so much so that after five times attending, this very well could have been my last.

Lightning in a Bottle 2016 - Emancipator Ensemble

Lightning in a Bottle 2016 - Big Gigantic

Lightning in a Bottle 2016 - The Polish Ambassador

Lightning in a Bottle 2016 - Hunter Leggitt

Lightning in a Bottle 2016 - Rubblebucket

Lightning in a Bottle 2016 - Hundred Waters

Lightning in a Bottle 2016 - Lucient Dossier Experience

Lightning in a Bottle 2016 - Lafa Taylor

Lightning in a Bottle 2016 - Vokab Company

Lightning in a Bottle 2016 - The Russ Liquid Test

Lightning in a Bottle 2016 - Nahko & Medicine for the People

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Festival Reviews, Festivals Tagged With: Big Gigantic, Chet Faker, Coachella, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Emancipator, Emancipator Ensemble, Grimes, Hundred Waters, Jamie xx, Lake Skinner Recreational Area, LIB, LIB 2016, Lightning in a Bottle, Lightning in a Bottle 2016, Lucent Dossier Experience, Moderat, Oak Canyon Park, Rubblebucket, San Antonio Recreation Area, The Do LaB, The Polish Ambassador, The Russ Liquid Test, Tourist

BottleRock Napa Valley makes more strides in 2016

June 6, 2016 by The Bam Team Leave a Comment

By Mike Rosati & Norm de Veyra //

BottleRock Napa Valley //
Napa Valley Expo – Napa, CA
May 27th-29th, 2016 //

BottleRock Napa Valley once again returned to downtown Napa over Memorial Day weekend for its fourth edition, boasting an improved fan experience and an eclectic bill of music over a three-day stretch.

Serving as this year’s headliners were Stevie Wonder, Florence & the Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers, while other notable acts included The Lumineers, Death Cab for Cutie, Lenny Kravitz, Walk the Moon, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Ziggy Marley, Grouplove and more.

But some of the best performances of the weekend came from artists playing on the festival’s smaller stages, from Long Beach’s Cold War Kids to Welsh alt-rockers The Joy Formidable. The Suffers, a 10-piece soul band from Texas, made one of the biggest impressions on the final day of BottleRock, along with San Francisco indie-pop outfit Dangermaker and singer-songwriter Langhorne Slim.

Florence & the Machine

Among all of the music being played, one of the highlights was undoubtedly the festival’s Williams-Sonoma Culinary Stage, which welcomed appearances by classic stoner-comedy duo Cheech & Chong (who kicked things off with a special show at The Uptown Theater in Napa the night before BottleRock) and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Even “American Pie” actor Thomas Ian Nicholas joined in on the fun during a set dedicated to the 1999 film.

We were on hand for all three days of BottleRock, noting an upgraded layout, more food/beverage options and better VIP accommodations than in past years. And though the festival still has room to grow, it has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time.

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Fantastic Negrito

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Cold War Kids

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Black Pistol Fire

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Andy Grammar

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - White Panda

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Atlas Genius

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Ziggy Marley

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Son Little

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - The Struts

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - The Joy Formidable

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Panic Is Perfect

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Walk the Moon

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - The Pharcyde

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - The Iron Heart

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Coleman Hell

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Langhorne Slim & The Law

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Rodrigo y Gabriela

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - The Suffers

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Deap Vally

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Ivan & Alyosha

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - The Shovels

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Jamestown Revival

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - The Moth & The Flame

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - machineheart

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Dangermaker

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - X Ambassadors

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Deep Vally

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - The Moth & The Flameh

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Shovels & Rope

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Williams-Sonoma Culinary Stage - Cheech & Chong

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Williams-Sonoma Culinary Stage - American Pie

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Williams-Sonoma Culinary Stage

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Williams-Sonoma Culinary Stage - Gordon Ramsay

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Williams-Sonoma Culinary Stage - Vida Blue & Mark Ibanez

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Williams-Sonoma Culinary Stage - Vida Blue

BottleRock Napa Valley 2016 - Cheech & Chong at The Uptown Theater

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Festivals Tagged With: Black Pistol Fire, BottleRock, BottleRock 2016, BottleRock Napa, BottleRock Napa 2016, BottleRock Napa Valley, BottleRock Napa Valley 2016, Cheech & Chong, Cold War Kids, Coleman Hell, Dangermaker, Deap Vally, Death Cab For Cutie, Fantastic Negrito, Florence & the Machine, Gogol Bordello, GROUPLOVE, Iration, Ivan & Alyosha, Jamestown Revival, k.flay, Kaleo, Langhorne Slim, Langhorne Slim & The Law, Lenny Kravitz, machineheart, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Mike Stud, Moonalice, Panic Is Perfect, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Shovels & Rope, Soak, Son Little, Stevie Wonder, The Joy Formidable, The Lumineers, The Moth & The Flame, The Pharcyde, The Score, The Struts, The Suffers, Walk the Moon, White Panda, X Ambassadors, Ziggy Marley

Moderat are the cure for the common DJ

June 1, 2016 by Zach Bourque 1 Comment

Zach Bourque //

Moderat with Telefon Tel Aviv //
The Fonda Theatre – Los Angeles
May 26th, 2016 //

It’s difficult to accurately describe Moderat without dipping into superlatives. The innovative, groundbreaking Berlin-based supergroup has proven to be a modern antidote to EDM, with a fresh take on electronic music that reminds you why you started enjoying it in the first place.

The three-piece outfit hit The Fonda Theatre for a sold-out performance last Thursday ahead of its appearance at Lighting in a Bottle this past weekend. Support came from New Orleans-derived electronic music act Telefon Tel Aviv, now made up of former Nine Inch Nails touring member Joshua Eustis after the accidental death of bandmate Charles Cooper in 2009.

Much of this appeal stems from the ethereal vocals of Ring, whose presence stands to further elevate the group over the current crop of watch-me-press-play DJs in the EDM world. Coupled with the trio’s trippy, layered sound, Moderat are an electronic act that sound spectacular in a recording studio but become something else entirely when they perform live.

At The Fonda, the group wasted no time diving into a wonderfully varied setlist that featured old favorites like “Rusty Nails” and “Bad Kingdom” that were mixed in with newer tracks like “Running” off its 2016 release and third full-length album III.

Moderat’s initially dark and subdued visual setup, meanwhile, shifted directions halfway through their set, exploding into a sea of light and color before finally giving the group the psychedelic backdrop it was born to play in front of.

Any sold-out show at The Fonda can be a daunting experience, but the eclectic crowd seemed surprisingly well-behaved, especially considering the show’s proximity to a holiday weekend. Credit goes to a refreshing lack of tank-topped EDM bros and a collective sense of appreciation and excitement for the event at hand, which speaks volumes to the merit of the group.

While we’ll stop short of calling all EDM music garbage, it’s certainly been an embarrassing blemish on electronic music as a whole, which makes it all the more refreshing to witness a live electronic set that puts the focus back on the music instead of the party.

Moderat can’t offer you bass drops, celebrity cameos or goofy costumes. What they can offer, though, is something way more valuable — electronic music that not only sounds awesome live, but would also be a great addition to your vinyl collection at home.

Take that, David Guetta.

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Moderat, Telefon Tel Aviv, The Fonda Theatre

Young Thug isn’t afraid to do things his own way

May 23, 2016 by Joseph Gray Leave a Comment

By Joseph Gray //

Young Thug with Rich The Kid, Lil Yachty, Migos //
The Fonda Theatre – Los Angeles
May 16th, 2016 //

Whenever I have been asked about Young Thug, it’s usually been prefaced with “I don’t know why …” or “for some odd reason …” before conceding that I enjoy his music.

Oft-inaudible lyrics. A wardrobe that includes as many free-flowing feather blouses as it does jerseys. These characteristics, of course, don’t make up what most hip-hop fans have come to expect from our fabled stars.

But Young Thug (born Jeffrey Lamar Williams) wouldn’t have it any other way. Managing to toe a stylistic line of convoluted brilliance, Atlanta’s 23-year-old cult hero remains an enigma with lofty pop-star expectations to meet. And they don’t appear to be far from a face-off.

Young Thug’s signature shrilling voice, enveloped with adlibbing squeaks and crazed barks, sounds almost absurd on the surface — until it isn’t. As he manipulates music’s interior over darker, bruising-yet-patient beats with a warm and swift flow, he has seemingly settled into a pace where the melodies will put an ironclad grip on your interest — and it should. Whether you understand everything or not, you’re likely to listen more intently.

A sold-out room full of devotees at The Fonda Theatre last Monday weren’t afraid to admit that and much more during the LA stop of his Hy!£UN35 (HiTunes) Tour, named after his much-anticipated Atlantic Records debut album, which still doesn’t have a release date.

“Can you pleeeease go to the side of the stage and steal us water? I can see some right there. Pleeeeease?”

Pleading front-row attendees, arriving at The Fonda by mid-afternoon for a headliner who wouldn’t descend upon the stage until closer to midnight, were extremely dehydrated and fatigued. They also were hell-bent on maintaining a prime spot for Young Thug’s psychedelic rodeo, willing to take — with the help of those working in the photo pit, including myself — from the stash of stage accessories for the well-liked openers. Among those were Atlanta-area upstarts Rich The Kid, Lil Yachty and a surprise guest appearance from the always juiced-up Migos. All of which would hurl more than enough water and raucous energy their way.

With water bottles in tow to complement dampened clothing, the crowd’s soaked anticipation and “Thugger!” chants would soon be rewarded when the venue’s large curtains were raised to reveal cutouts of Michael Jackson and Prince. And then there, sandwiched onstage between the cardboard iconic figures, would be their unapologetic version of a musical prodigy.

Fresh off releasing the latest — and final — installment of his Slime Season mixtape trilogy, Young Thug took his place on the stage. Arriving in a white blouse, multicolored sequined jacket, dark shades, a polka-dot head scarf and remarkably slim, golden pants, he aligned such a rangy and vibrant uniform with his performance.

There wouldn’t be any towering LED lights, stunts or stage diving. However, Young Thug, who for the majority of his roughly hour-long set played the lone wolf, delighted the crowd with his animated and bright delivery while running through thundering Slime Season 3 favorites like “With Them”, “Digits” and “Slime Shit”. The audience, ranging from high school seniors to seasoned workers likely with mortgages, strikingly recited every uncanny, controversial lyric and Ric Flair-esque “Woo!” like they had been analyzing them for years.

Young Thug’s glossy sleeves weren’t without surprises in the lining, though. While returning to breakthrough hits like “Stoner” and “Hookah”, Young Thug welcomed collaborator Tyga, who provided a jolt to remind us of the moments he had before TMZ’s cameras arguably took the rest of them. Trinidad James and Yo Gotti also made appearances, the latter performing his megahit “Down in the DM” before the lighting started to dim.

“Give me more lights, give me more lights, give me more lights,” stage conductor Young Thug harmonized with a lighthearted and seemingly impromptu carol while briefly heading to his utopia. With his back momentarily turned to the camera-phone flash before the lighting guys again joined the party, Atlanta’s favorite outlander appeared to just take a moment. The point in time could have been one of appreciation or something else on a completely different side of the pendulum. That ambiguity is what seems to keep Young Thug and his pundits going.

What’s next? Last Monday, it was the nostalgic ballad “Worth It” ahead of crossover bangers “Best Friend” and “Lifestyle” to accentuate what appears to be an ascent in the making.

As far as the future? Only Young Thug knows and that appears to be perfectly alright with him and his fans.

Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Live Music Reviews Tagged With: Lil Yachty, Migos, Rich The Kid, The Fonda Theatre, Tyga, Young Thug

Tortoise make their triumphant return to the stage after more than six years between albums

May 5, 2016 by Josh Herwitt 1 Comment

By Josh Herwitt //

Tortoise with Fell Runner //
Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles
May 2nd, 2016 //

Monday night can be a tough night to play a show no matter where you are. Even in LA, where there is no shortage of live music seven days a week, Monday night shows can sometimes be a struggle for fans to commit to, especially when it comes to lesser-known bands performing at clubs and smaller-sized venues.

So, when I walked into the Teragram Ballroom a few minutes before local experimental rock band Fell Runner stepped onstage to open the show and noticed that less than a third of the room was full, I figured it would be a modest crowd on hand to catch headliner Tortoise, who hadn’t performed in LA since mid-2010. But little did I know, by the time the Chicago post-rock outfit was in the midst of its 75-minute set, the room was completely packed from the front to the back, making my Monday night feel more like a Friday night.

Tortoise, after all, have been around the block and back again. The five-piece that formed out of the friendship bassist Doug McCombs and drummer John Herndon forged has been at it for more than 25 years dating all the way back to 1990, when the band’s remaining cast of record producer/drummer John McEntire, percussionist Dan Bitney and former bass player Bundy K. Brown came on board. Brown has been gone for more than two decades now, but guitarist Jeff Parker has remained with the group for nearly as long, bringing a strong jazz background to Tortoise’s instrumental, heavily percussive tunes thanks in part to his collaborations with musicians like George Lewis, Ernest Dawkins, Brian Blade, Joshua Redman, Fred Anderson and Jason Moran.

John McEntire of Tortoise

What’s so impressive about Tortoise, especially for this first-timer, was watching all five band members play multiple instruments, with Herndon, McEntire and Bitney regularly switching between drums, keyboards and various percussion instruments (vibraphone and marimbas) during the show. Oftentimes when one song would finish, at least two of them would switch instruments. In fact, toward the end of the set, even Bitney strapped on the bass as McCombs moved over to play guitar and Parker manned his mini synthesizer. For a band that performs mostly instrumental music, it was this rotating element that kept things fresh from at least a newer fan’s perspective.

It took Tortoise six-plus years to drop their seventh and latest LP The Catastrophist, and while that’s certainly a long time between album releases, it has been well worth the wait. At the Teragram Ballroom, the quintet made sure to showcase a good portion of the 11-track record, which received generally favorable reviews from most major media outlets when it came out in late January and was one of our 10 albums to hear in early 2016. One notable highlight was no doubt “Shake Hands with Danger”, the experimental, yet haunting track that starts with McEntire laying down a simple groove on his drum kit and builds with more percussion from Bitney and some gritty guitar work from Parker.

For as well-rehearsed — the band has been touring for more than three months at this point — as Tortoise sounded on this spring night in LA though, it was surprising that their set didn’t extend past 11:30 p.m. considering the overall depth and breadth of their catalog. Yet, then again, staying out until almost midnight on a Monday night was plenty late for this slowly aging music fan.