Yonder Mountain String Band @ House of Blues (Boston) 10-16-09

Posted on October 21, 2009 by Kip

Yonder Mountain String Band at House of Blues - 4

(All concert shots were taken by Adrian Mott – See more on his Flickr Page)

My first experience with Yonder Mountain String Band was back in college at the Higher Ground, a small venue just outside of Burlington, that has (or rather had as it since moved to a new location) an intimate vibe. Intimate and bluegrass often go hand in hand.

Fast forward eight years and now I’m seeing them at the House of Blues in downtown Boston. A venue that can hardly be described as intimate. If you’re a hardcore Bluegrass fan, you probably already know, but Yonder is not your typical bluegrass experience. And in fact, if you’re someone who is just getting into the genre, this show may not be up your alley.

Yonder Mountain String Band at House of Blues Yonder is strictly for those who are either a fan or were a fan of the jam band scene. They take what is typically viewed as a structured genre – songs with clear beginnings and endings – and turn it into a state of it’s own that usually has no boundaries. For those seeking the unknown with their music this is exactly what you want out of a band. Personally, there is always this curiosity that draws me to the jam band philosophy. However, if I were given a choice between a traditional bluegrass show (i.e. Sam Bush, Del McCoury or Tony Rice) and a jam band bluegrass show, I’d go with the traditional.

If you were to take the instruments away from each band member your first impression may not be one of bluegrass. The bass player himself looks like he could be coined the bluegrass version of Kid Rock with his long “counter culture” like hair dangling from the full brimmed black hat. But as soon as they start to banter and make short, often times cheeky side jokes, you know these are bluegrass players.

The crowd was your typical jam scene with mostly college kids filling the House of Blues with your occasional Dead Head from New Hampshire making the trek down. Saw a couple of what looked like high schoolers who are just starting to explore the jam world. Per usual at these types of shows, there were two sets. The crowd remained well in tact for the second set which convinced me we were at a pretty good show when it comes to pretty good shows you normally get really drunk at such as this. There were family members of the band in the crowd as well which always ups the level of playing.

Yonder Mountain String Band at House of Blues - 2

In the end our crew of about ten deep had a good time during the wacky bass duel where Ben Kaufmann (upright bass player for YMSB) and what appeared to be one of the opening band members or just a friend took turns on the upright switching hands right in the middle of their plucking. We enjoyed the covers of Fleetwood Mac and Talking Heads. We didn’t necessarily enjoy the fact that House of Blues is grossly under staffed in the bartender field and it took way too long to get that first beer. Thankfully, either due to the owners realizing this dilemma, or just good marketing sense, they had loose beer cans being sold by girls walking through the dancing crowd. One rule, however, you can only have one beer in hand at a time, which is a rule strictly enforced (wink wink).

Like many other jam bands (i.e. Phish), Yonder is not well known for great studio works. Their latest “The Show”, was released to a few praises from the likely of places – Relix, Rolling Stone and Billboard. But I don’t even think the band would argue that in order to experience their music as it’s suppose to be experienced you need to see them live – and drunk too. In fact, as they say in their song, when the feeling is right reach for “one more jagermeister shot”.

Download & Listen to “Compliacted” from the new album.

Purchase “The Show”

And most importantly, go see YMSB on the road:

10/22 Madison, WI Orpheum Theatre with Split Lip Rayfield
10/23 Chicago, IL House of Blues
10/24 Chicago, IL House of Blues
10/28 Columbia, MO The Blue Note
10/29 Omaha, NE Sokol Auditorium
10/30 Lawrence, KS Liberty Hall
10/31 Lawrence, KS Liberty Hall
12/29 Boulder, CO Boulder Theater
12/30 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium
12/31 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium

Review of Andrew Bird @ BoA Pavilion 6/19/08

Posted on June 23, 2009 by Kip

Andrew Bird - BoA Pavilion 1 On this gloomy Friday, that turned into a partial sunny afternoon, we dragged our work week bodies to the Seaport Bar & Grill for some pregame beverages before walking over to the Andrew Bird / Calexico show at the BoA Pavilion with a clear understanding to catch all of the opener. Those unfamiliar with Calexico, get familiar. Originating from Tuscon, Arizona, they’ve been around the block. If you listen to WERS you’ve probably heard their latest single, “Two Silver Trees “, off of Carried to Dust. Over the years they’ve received sporadic recognition and exposure such as their collaboration with Iron & Wine for an EP, In the Reins, but are definitely due for more. One of their more famous tracks is a cover of the Love song, “Alone Again”, which closed out their set and forced us out of our seats to get the blood flowing before Andrew hit the stage. Turning around at the end of their set, I was happy to see a good portion of the venue filled. I’m sure they picked up a few new fans from this night.

Over all, the venue was a little more then half full for the show. A bit odd, considering Andrew Bird has been gracing the Boston area with his presence for over a decade (from Johnny D’s, to Middle East to Berklee to the Pavilion). But it was also refreshing to go up to get a beer and not have any line.

“Sweetbreads” opened the set, which is more commonly known as “Dark Matter” off of Armchair Apocrypha. Andrew was his usual talkative self and explained after this song that he was inspired by a cook book about sweetbreads that he once read while half asleep and thinking about eating thoughts. As he rambled he began to confuse himself and the crowd. Andrew likes to open his mouth and let his thoughts do all the talking so it’s usually disjointed. Sticking with the same album, they jumped into a lively rendition of “Fiery Crash”.

Reaching back a little father into his library, they played the slow and fidgety tune, “Opposite Day”, from …Mysterious Production of Eggs. The next set of songs would highlight his latest release, Noble Beast, starting with “Fitz and Dizzyspells”. The energy from this song was a sign of things to come for this show. “Natural Disaster” followed and relaxed the crowd back from the edge of our seats where we sat bobbing our heads to Fitz. “Mastersworm”, a song about radiolarians, tiny microorganisms that live at the bottom of the ocean. Andrew is a tried and true nature boy and it shows throughout his lyrics. Before moving on, he explained that the next couple of tunes are about anti-social tendencies. “Oh No”, the Noble Beast single and one of Bird’s greatest whistle-a-long songs to date, was first up. We tried to whistle with him but not every human being has as much saliva as Bird so this was short lived. “Effigy” was the second anti-social inspired song. The next song, “Anonanimal”, was inspired by the animals from the movie The Dark Crystal as Andrew explained. How can you not love this guy.

The first and only cover of the night was an old timey tune called “Trials, Troubled, Tribulations”. The next song, “Imitosis”, showcased the chops of Andrew’s drummer, Martin Dosh. I was hoping to get a “Simple X”, a song that blew me away at the Berklee show a couple years back and introduced me to Dosh’s abilities. “Cataracts” slowed things down but this was necessary for what was to come.

This was the last show for the joint Andrew and Calexico bill. Andrew has known the boys from Calexico for sometime and was very sad to see their paths divide. We all knew what this meant, it was time to use up the space on the giant stage; enter the six members of Calexico. “Skin is, my” kicked things off and as the guitars roared and horns soared towards the first chorus, the crowd slowly rose to their feet. For the remainder of the show most of us stood to pay homage to the amazing performance unraveling in front of us. The sound was huge and everyone was feeling it. Even folks who would rather sit joined in on the excitement. When they broke into “Synthian Empire”, I turned to my friend Josh in excitement. I had claimed this my favorite song of the year back in 2007 when Armchair Apocrypha came out and hearing it with Calexico on stage was a huge treat for these ears. One more with everyone, the sneaky but heartfelt song, “Tables and Chairs”, found on …Mysterious Production of Eggs. As they took their bows and left the stage, the crowd roared and banged on chairs giving them a clear sign that we would not be happy with just one more song.

Up until this point they had played songs from only the past three albums, besides the old timey cover tune. So it was a special moment when Bird came out all alone to pull off “Why?”, a song from his 2001 release, The Swimming Pool. As he rubs his head and moves about sporadically, this song shows off Andrew’s madness perfectly. From the pluck of the strings to the vilont stoke of his bow with horsehair loosely flying about, Andrew Bird is a true modern day virtuoso.

They went on to play two more songs in the first encore (“Headsoak” and “Fake Palindromes”). Then, feeling the excitement in the crowd, Andrew came back out for a 2nd encore and played “Don’t Be Scared” off of his 2003 album, Weather Systems.

It was quite a night and ranks up there with shows I’ve seen at the pavilion as well as shows I’ve seen period. We took a lot of pictures, below are just a handful. To see more, go to T Dog’s Flickr page.

Complete setlist:

Sweetbreads/Dark Matter
Fiery Crash
Opposite Day
Fitz and Dizzyspells
Natural Disaster
Mastersworm
Oh No
Effigy
Anonanimal
Trials, Troubles, Tribulations
Imitosis
Cataracts
Skin is, My (w/ Calexico)
Scythian Empire (w/ Calexico)
Tables and Chairs (w/ Calexico)

1st Encore:

Why?
Headsoak
Fake Palindromes

2nd Encore:

Don’t Be Scared

Pictures from the show:

Andrew Bird whistline

Andrew Bird - BoA Pavilion 3

Matt Dosh - BoA Pavilion

Andrew Bird - BoA Pavilion 2

Andrew Bird and Calexico

Passion Pit @ Paradise Rock Club 6/18/09

Posted on June 19, 2009 by Kip

passionpit_1

When I first heard “Sleepyhead” early last year I didn’t know what quite to think. Minus the vocals, the sound was familiar. Electropop is nothing new and is considered by some to be almost mainstream thanks to Matt Murphy and his LCD Soundsystem project and our friends across the pond, Hot Chip. But if I had to choose one of the two that Passion Pit reminds me the most of it’s LCD. Not necessarily because of their sound but because of how the music is produced and written. In essence, a one man show.

In no way am I discounting the talent that now supports Michael Angelakos. As clearly stated at this show, Passion Pit is more a band then it is a moniker like LCD Soundsystem is for Matt Murphy. Keeping the beat behind the drums with his big studio headphones is Nate Donmoyer, on the synth/samples/guitar is Ayad Al Adhamy, on bass is Jeff Apruzzese and on the keyboard is Ian Hultquist. It’s still way too early to say whether ‘Pit will have a similar rotating cast of characters like LCD but it’s safe to say that right now, the band appears to be locked in to a groove.

I began the show in the pit, snapping a few shots before handing it off to my photo guerrilla, T dog. Therefor, the performance didn’t start to really hit me until they played “Secret Place”. As I suspected in my preview, the chorus section that uses a group of kids for the melody was supported by the crowd, but not because the band asked them to, but because the crowd wanted to. This formula suites Passion Pit very well. Besides Michael’s vocal style, this helps differentiate them from the other electropop bands. Later, when they played “The Reeling” for the encore, the crowd responded with force, “Oh noooooooo”, over and over again.

Besides the typical standouts, “The Reeling” and “Sleepyhead”, a song that took me for a ride was “Swimming in the Flood”. One of the slower tracks on Manners, their debut album. With its simple keyboard line over Michael’s floating vocals, this song does a nice job of lifting the crowd in to a frenzy as it draws to a close.

With the family and close friends in attendance, the band was excited to be home. To me, it seems as if lead man, Michael Angelakos, is a bit shocked by the rush of success and attention they’ve received. Everyone else appears pumped to be along for the ride. It must be a daunting thought to be the main song writer for a band that has only one hour of material, was signed by a major label (they are signed to Columbia Records in the U.K.), and will be under the gun to reach into his brain to pick out more “Sleepyheads” and “The Reelings” to keep the momentum going. It’s a daunting task but one I sense Michael is up to.

One thing is for sure, the kids were jamming last night. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Paradise is by far the best midsize venue in the greater Boston area. From the giant polls painted to look like funky trees that stand smack in the middle of the room to the close proximity of the balcony that hovers over the crowd, there’s a sense of comradery in the ‘Dise. Every show that’s geared towards dancing should be performed here. My only comment would be to the house sound team. The bass amps stage right were a bit ridiculous. I felt my brain move several inches to the left and right every time the bass or kick drum was hit with force.

I look forward to following Passion Pit and hope that next time around instead of one hour of music in their repertoire they’ll have two hours to help keep the party going.

Here are some more pics from the show for your enjoy passion_pit_4 ment. passion_pit_10

passionpit_2

passion_pit_1

passion_pit_19 passion_pit_17 For more Passion Pit info, visit the following sites:
www.myspace.com/passionpitjams

www.passionpitmusic.com

Grizzly Bear @ Berklee College of Music – 6/3/09

Posted on June 4, 2009 by Kip

The brightest and the hippest were all out in pure force last night at the Berklee Performance Art Center on Mass Ave. in Boston. I was upset I missed the opener, Here We Go Magic, but we can blame Boston’s lack of free parking spots for that one. Who wants to pay $17 to park for three hours? Not me.

I was on top of this show early so I snagged my favorite seats in the house which are located right along the first section of the balcony. Great view, great sound. Just like their new album, Veckatimest, they opened up with “Southern Point”. This version seemed longer then the album version. I know that the ‘Bear likes to explore during their shows so perhaps this is their exploratory nature coming out on stage. The sound was kicking as usual but the last show I saw here was Andrew Bird and the sound was no where near as loud.

A good reason why the sound was so loud was sitting behind the skins. Christopher Bear not only includes half of the bands name but he also makes up half of the bands sound all on his own. The fills and rolls this guy pulls off are so intense and forceful that he invokes chills up your spine on a regular basis. I almost feel sorry for his kit at times.

All the way on the opposite side of the stage stands another strong foundation to the band, Chris Taylor. Chris tends to be the quite, “no body really notices”, type of guy while on stage. However, if you were to mute everyone on stage except Chris you’d notice he makes the most noise. And not just with his bass. He’s got all sorts of toys, especially in the wind instrument family including a clarinet and what looked like a Saprono sax. He appears to attach a special microphone to the end of each wind instrument which is then attached to some crazy effects pedal that alters the sound giving it that haunting vibe Grizzly is so famously known for.

For those unfamiliar with their sound, the best way to describe Grizzly Bear is a haunting version of the Beach Boys. I don’t mean haunting to mean scary but rather beauty. If you like melody, you’ll love Grizzly Bear because each song is jam full of gorgeous, haunting melodies that you’ll go crazy for.

A review of Grizzly Bear would not be complete without discussing the performance of the two lead vocalists, Daniel Rosen and Ed Droste. For Ed, this was a home coming show. Tons of family in the crowd. If there’s a leader of the band I guess you could say Ed is it. But only cause he’s the most talkative, which isn’t saying much. But Ed and Daniel split the lead vocal duties. Ed’s voice is more traditional and sounds professionally trained (not sure if he is or not), where as Daniel has a more unique quality that includes the familiar haunting undertones found throughout the instrumental components of each song. But Ed and Daniel are not the only ones whose vocals make an appearance. All four members contribute with Chris Taylor as the main back up vocalist who is often the one you hear contributing to the “ooooo’s” and “ahhhh’s”. There aren’t too many other bands out there that rival the four part harmony of Grizzly Bear.

They rambled through a majority of their new material and included a few off their first album, Yellow House, such as the stand out “Knife” and “Colorado”. One thing is for sure, these guys really put a lot of work into each song. Everything so perfectly timed and the details, details, details! They even make use of frequency from an old radio to add sound to various songs.

To say the least, this was a show of pure talent. My only wish, as is with many indie shows, is that they played longer. I would have enjoyed a second encore. I would have enjoyed getting up out of my seat and dancing but I probably would have been booed. But I guess that’s why I also go to Phish shows.

Listen and Download tracks from Here We Go Magic’s Daytrotter sessions

Listen to Grizzly Bear music on Myspace

Watch and listen on Interface:

Black Kids & Cut Copy @ Paradise – 5/12/08

Posted on May 14, 2008 by Kip

Black Kids Review:

Monday’s are not usually the best day for me when it comes to giving a thorough review of a show. But I kept my whits about me by not drinking too many PBRs.

I missed the opening band, Mobius Band. I know some of my fellow Boston bloggers have been following these guys but I have yet to catch on. I’m sure that sooner rather then later I’ll catch their opening act. Give them a listen and let me know what you think: http://www.myspace.com/mobiusband.

I made it just around the time Black Kids were making it on stage. The crowd didn’t seem into it right away. I think the packed house and cramped space didn’t help. They’re a band you want to sit back and groove to. Even their grooviest of tunes didn’t get me moving too much. But I don’t think that’s really the point, unless you’re completely in the bag. The point here is that they play fun, catchy music. The lead vocalist, Reggie Youngblood, has a unique sound but as we all know, we take after our idols. I heard hints of Bowie on occasion and for modern day inspiration he was definitely throwing in some British accent love for Bloc Party frontman, Kele Okereke .

My one problem with Black Kids is the line up that seems forced here – brother and sister in the same band. If Ali Youngblood actually played an instrument proficiently or had impeccable vocals, it would be one thing, but she really doesn’t do much to add to the band. The whole brother – sister thing probably works to their advantage but I recently saw an interview where Reggie said “it’s the first time I’ve played with my sister. That’s not completely OK. We don’t hang out. If we weren’t playing music, we probably wouldn’t see much of each other.” (Boston Metro). Not sure if that’s good press or not. Maybe he meant to say that “It’s OK” and the Metro either miss quoted him or he miss quoted himself.

What’s even worse about their setup is they put her front and center. When she’s not supplying the back up vocals or pushing a few keys on her mini synthesizer, she passes the time by doing a little jig. It’s kind of like the Ashley Simpson episode from SNL.

However, they’re having fun and that’s all that really matters. Would I recommend seeing Black Kids live, not really. Nothing too special. However, I would recommend buying their music for their poppy and fun songs.

Their album his coming out in July. It was recorded and produced over in London by Bernard Butler (former Suede guitarist). The album is coming out on Columbia Records.

Cut Copy Review:

Cut Copy are all about the build up. They love revving up the crowd with breaks in the song that lead up to huge bass lines and infectious melodies. If you own their recent album, In Ghost Colours, you already know this. The one thing that I felt lacked from their set was a flow. There were periods between each song that were longing then I expected. Especially since on the album the songs flow into one another.

But that is the only downfall. Everything else was just pure, good old fashion, dance fever music and electronic pop goodness.

I was able to capture most of their performance of the single “Lights & Music”. Watch below. The sound is a bit scratchy since I was up in the stage-right balcony where speakers point right at you. The more and more I go to the Paradise the more I enjoy the sound quality in certain locations such as in this spot. If you go too deep into the balcony then the sound gets muffled. I also enjoy the floor over on the left better then the right even though the right side is bigger.

And watch carefully folks, Boston kids love to get down. I mean, this place was going nuts during these build up moments. The boys from Cut Copy were eating it up. I looked down on the sea of kids and could barely make out individuals. It just looked like one big mass of human arms flaring back and forth. Too bad this was a Monday night others I would have been down there in the mix.

Hip2besquare

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