The Rural Alberta Advantage @ The Bell House, Brooklyn 5/29/09

Kz and I made the short walk over to The Bell House last night to see The Rural Alberta Advantage perform. We got there early and got to hear the Black Hollies, The Chris Mills Band, and La Strada. Very cool space at the Bell House...big wooden beams and a huge sign with a bison on it over the stage. It was a fun night with lots of music.
Black Hollies came out with 40 minutes of a straight thru-no breaks barrage of sound as The Bell House filled in. After them Chris Mills & Co. slowed it down with a little more country sounding jam along sound. La Strada brought out the whole gang; with a couple guitars, violins, accordion, and cello. Pretty cool sound. They put on a lively show.

La Strada (above)
The RAA (below)

Finally at about midnight The RAA came onstage and gave us a number of tracks of their Hometowns album. Good stuff from these western canadians. They played a fun acoustic encore of Survivors' "Eye of The Tiger". Have a listen to a couple live tracks from The RAA's recent stop in Chicago at HearYa's Shirk Studios.

The Rural Alberta Advantage - Edmonton

Digg this | Post to del.icio.us | Facebook

TGIF Jams

Hectic week, lots of good music though...enjoy!

Willem Maker - Black Beach Boogie - Buy Album

Brother Ali - Good Lord - Buy Album

Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - Rattlin' Bones - Buy Album

Everyday Prophets - Flinch - Buy Album

YYYs - Zero - Buy Album


Digg this | Post to del.icio.us | Facebook

Grizzly Bear, Here We Go Magic @ Town Hall, New York 5/28/09

...just caught the last couple songs from opening band, Here We Go Magic.
Then it was time for some GRIZZLY BEAR!!!

They opened with "Southern Point" and "Cheerleader". After that I lost track of or stopped trying to remember song names (I did do my best reenactment of the video for "Two Weeks" when they played that tune). I was chanting and humming the night away after that one. Very good live performance and a nice way to celebrate my birthday. Special shout out to kz for making the trip and joining me at the show. Enjoy some more pictures from the night under the fold...

Here We Go Magic (above)
Grizzly Bear (below)







Read the NY Times review of the show.
Now let me go digest some Veckatimest...

Digg this | Post to del.icio.us | Facebook

The National - New Goodness

In an attempt to make up for a near radio silent start to this week, I'll keep em coming while I'm on a roll. As I have been catching up on some listening, viewing, reading I stumbled on to Consequence of Sound and was pleased to see new songs by The National posted a couple days ago. I've never been the biggest fan, something about their singer putting me to sleep just doesn't do it for me. But I will admit when I'm in the mood for it, it is solid. Also it's Jim's birthday and he's a fanatic. So here it is. enjoy!

The National - "Blood Buzz Ohio" (Live In Boston)



This one gets it goin a bit more...



For you heavy rockers don't worry I haven't gone totally soft today, Deep Purple just released Live @ Inglewood 1968 and L.A. Guns is scheduled to release their 1986 Demos next week.

Digg this | Post to del.icio.us | Facebook

Dan Auerbach - Heartbroken, In Disrepair - VIDEO

Yesterday My Old Kentucky Blog posted Dan Auerbach's new video for the track 'Heartbroken, In Disrepair'. Normally I have mixed feelings about basically reposting whats already out there but I couldn't resist. The video is fitting (for us chi town folk) given the Blackhawks performance last night. It was shot in some field in Texas, and it shows, the whole thing has an eery resemblance to the 1974 Texas Chainsaw Masacre. Great tune, great vid. enjoy!




Digg this | Post to del.icio.us | Facebook

Yeah Yeah Yeahs w/ Grand Ole Party @ The Aragon Ballroom (Set List + Pics)

Grand Ole Party (from San Diego) is really what sold me on this concert. I started listening to them a little over a year ago and instantly fell in love with Kristin Gundred's voice. I bought their album the day I heard 'Young Son' on hypem.com. I came close to seeing them at bonnaroo last yeaer but unfortunately they were a casualty of Jim's flight being delayed and me and DK waiting outside the fest with the tickets. Anyway It was great to finally catch em live. Not many band's front man is a drummer.



Ms. Gundred stood proud front and center at her drum-kit and wailed away. And even kept her composure through some technical difficulties in the first song. They seemed to have played all new stuff which was fun to hear and solidified them as more than just a group with a few hits from a few years ago. Looks like they're progressing well and I hope next time they come through Chicago they will be headlining. They have new album due out next September.

As for the headliner, well Karen O didn't disappoint. The Yeah Yeah Yeah's really know how to put on a performance. Whether its spitting water into the crowd, blasting 'Y' shaped confetti in the air, energetic stage moves, flexible poses, they make it fun to watch and engage with the audience. The music is as good as the theatrics. I was really impressed. Yeah Yeah Yeah's are a must see live show, the recorded albums just don't do 'em justice. I was a casual listener before and I think now I'm hooked. Below you'll find the setlist I was able to gather... Check out more pics as well and I'll work on uploading the video I got later on.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Aragon Ballroom Set List 5/26/09

Runaway
Black Tongue
Human Fly
Man
Dull Life
Gold Lion
Cheated Heart's
Skeletons
Soft Shock
Honey Bear
Zero
Maps (acoustic)
Y Control

:::Encore:::

Heads Will Roll
Art Star
Date With a Night

Read Chicago Sun Times Review HERE

Pics:








Digg this | Post to del.icio.us | Facebook

TGIF JAMS

Gettin' hot here in the Chi and I'm lovin it. Go mix yourself some lemonade and listen to the goodness. enjoy!

Jason Collett (feat. Feist) - Hangover Days - Buy Album

Sara Watkins - Long Hot Summer Days - Buy Album

Laura Lee - Dirty Man - Buy Album

Her Space Holiday - Sleepy Tigers - Buy Album

Franz Ferdinand & Coco Freeman - The Dark of the Matinee (Spanish Version) - Buy MP3

My Morning Jacket - Strangulation - Buy EP

Digg this | Post to del.icio.us | Facebook