Out the Other

Bonnaroo Preview: Phoenix

This post is from Out the Other's 2010 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2010 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.

Last month, I got the chance to see Phoenix here in Nashville for the second time, on the exact same university lawn where I was first introduced to the French pop band's phenomenal live show almost exactly five years prior. Two Rites of Spring performances at Vanderbilt five years apart would have been poetic bookends for my Phoenix live experience, but you can bet that I'm not going to let poetry prevent me from seeing what has become one of my favorite bands as many times as possible.  I may not be front and center at the Which Stage next month at Bonnaroo for Phoenix's performance (those days of oh-my-god-I-absolutely-need-to-be-close-enough-to-touch-the-stage are behind me), but you can bet I'll be dancing my ass off and having my mind blown by the number of people dancing to Phoenix along with me.

FREE Live Phoenix Album!

Still haven't been swept up by Lisztomania?  Not sure if you're on board with Phoenix?  Haven't gotten around to listening to one of the best albums of 2009 - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix?  Well, kids - you've run out of excuses, because the French popsters have gone ahead and released a free-free-free digital live album of Wolfgang tracks.  Live In Sydney can be downloaded here.

This is practically the entire studio album done live, from "Lisztomania" to "1901" to OtO fave "Rome."  I fell in love with Phoenix the first time I saw them live and realized how capable they are of ramping up the rock - and not that Wolfgang needs any rocking-up live, but this album showcases how masterfully Phoenix translates their music to the stage. These gents have their shiz together in front of a crowd - which was just as evident five years ago when I saw them at Vanderbilt's Rites of Spring as it was at last summer's Bonnaroo.

And speaking of Rites of Spring and Bonnaroo - Phoenix will be hitting Middle Tennessee twice in the next few months to play both festivals.  While the Rites schedule hasn't been officially announced yet, the Paris quartet penciled in Friday, April 23 into their tour schedule, so you should probably pencil it in as well.  I swear they're worth every penny of the festival ticket price.

"Armistice (live)"
"Lisztomania (live)"

Go get the live album. You know you want to listen to the rest. And you can thank me at Vandy next month.

**Update - Looks like too many people tried to DL the album from Phoenix, and the link isn't working. But I love you, so here's the download!

[ Live In Sydney download .zip ]

Bonnaroo Preview: Mumford & Sons

This post is from Out the Other's 2010 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2010 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.

Mumford & Sons are a quartet (delightfully posed in a barbershop above - get it?) that hails from West London, though their sound couldn't be planted more firmly in the heart of America.  Rustic and rootsy with an old-timey feel, it's Americana a la the Avett Brothers and The Tallest Man On Earth, for fans of the Dr. Dog, Felice Brothers and even Fleet Foxes variety of indie folk rock. Be-vested and bango-strumming, they appeared on David Letterman back in February to perform "Little Lion Man," a pretty stellar single from their full length debut, Sigh No More. And while the performance is great, my favorite moment comes in the moment after they complete their song and Letterman asks "what is this, exactly?" of the instrument the electric banjo player is holding - leaving two members of the band grinning incredulously at each other as the host moves on.  I just love the "holy shit" moments that sneak through when bands are doing something they have to think is pretty insane, like appearing on Letterman.

Hey guess what? I started Bonnaroo previewing!

Slow and steady wins the race, right? With that in mind, knowing full well that I plan on attending this year's Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, I thought I'd start previewing the artists performing in Manchester this June 10-13.  So check it out - Out the Other's 2010 Bonnaroo Artist Previews. 

Kicking off the project early means a few things - better, more in-depth coverage of the festival in general as it gets closer, plus the odds of me finishing this year will drastically improve!  I will probably recruit additional and super talented assistance as we get closer to the festival (just like last year), but I'll most likely be covering a lot of these artists myself, because I'd really like to familiarize myself with the new (to me) faces. 

I'll cross-post a lot of the previews here as I get them up (you've already seen Wale and The XX), but not all of the artists will make it to OtO proper, so make sure you subscribe to the preview blog.

As always, you can find my updates both Bonnaroo-related and absolutely-everything-I-find-interesting-related on my twitter.  And look! I made a twitter list for all the artists I could track down that are playing the 'Roo, plus the official @bonnaroo feed and other helpful twitter-ers I find:

Bonnaroo Preview: The XX

This post is from Out the Other's 2010 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2010 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.

I like to think that I have a good handle on new music, which is why I was surprised at the end of 2009 when I started reviewing everyone's "best of" lists for the year.  Sure, here and there I noticed a few stray albums that I hadn't really heard about, but that happens - especially on the internet, where bloggers have their local favorites and own obscure discoveries.  But over and over, again and again, I noted the high placement of one particular album on list after list.  The self-titled debut by a band called The XX had bowled over seemingly everyone who heard it in 2009, and somehow it had entirely slipped by my radar. How was that possible?

Bonnaroo Preview: Wale

This post is from Out the Other's 2010 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2010 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.

The older I get, the more frequently I find myself becoming alarmed when I discover that famous people - athletes, actors, musicians - are younger than I am. At 28 years old, I shouldn't be that surprised - I mean, everyone on MTV these days is younger than I am as a rule - but still, it's that brief moment of "shit, what have I been doing with my life" when you encounter someone whose celebrity somehow equates to "older than me" in your brain.

Olubowale Folarin, better known on stage as Wale, is 25.  And though my ability to judge the success of hip-hop artists is sincerely lacking, it doesn't take a genius to realize he's doing pretty well for himself at a reasonably young age. 2009 saw the release of his proper solo debut, Attention Deficit, and it comes with a list of impressive producers and guests - from Cool & Dre, Mark Ronson, The Neptunes, K'naan and Dave Sitek (who charmingly enough produced a track called "TV in the Radio") to Lady Gaga, who sings on the track "Chillin'." Doesn't even take a hip-hop fan to recognize those names equal a certain Stereogum-approved level of success.

I survived my first Bonnaroo

Well... kinda.  As I write this, I'm pausing every thirty seconds or so to cough or blow my nose - because of course the nasty cold that flattened me two weeks prior to the festival made a reappearance after the beatdown I gave my immune system this past weekend.  But I count myself lucky to have made it out with just a cold, a few scratches, one giant blister and a huge and mysterious bruise on my right knee.  I haven't abused myself like this since college (or at least since SXSW - though that isn't quite on par with the endurance challenge that is four days of bands and booze and sunshine and heat and rain and mud plus three nights in a tent), and I think I did admirably well for a Bonnaroo virgin. I even succeeded in taking a shower every day - in general camping, no less. So there, Father Time. 27 isn't too old for Bonnaroo after all.

So here's a rundown of my adventures and misadventures, highlights and lowlights, 'Roo-rocking tips and favorite moments of the fest.  But no regrets - there's no room for regrets in rock and roll.

Day 1

So I'm starting to think that most of the recapping is actually going to happen after I'm safe and dry and in my own house - so far Bonnaroo is awesome but mostly rainy and muddy and ridiculous.  Rain boots = the greatest idea I have ever had in my entire life.

Highlights thus far:  MURS, The Knux, and the Passion Pit I had patience for.  Remind me not to show up to a music festival on about four hours sleep - doesn't make the first day as exciting as you would hope it would be.  Fortunately, I rocked almost eight hours of sleep last night, and despite the fact that I just heard that Phoenix's flight just got cancelled (!!! at least they have ten more hours to get here), I think today is pretty much going to be the best. 

Bonnaroo!

We're out the door!  Follow us for updates:

@outtheother

@misstrashley

Bonnaroo Preview: Santigold

This post is from Out the Other's 2009 Bonnaroo Artist Previews, where I will be posting previews of all the musical acts playing the 2009 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. Please check out and subscribe to the full site to learn more about all of this year's performers.

Editor's note:  This is a guest preview from Sean Maloney (aka Bawston Sean), a frequent contributor to both the Nashville Scene and Nashville Cream. Sean can be reached via email at [email protected].

Generally speaking, I'm against the use of pop music in advertising. I know it's great for the writers and artist involved, financially speaking, but I also think that the licensing orgy over the last decade plus has cheapened music and contributed to the general public's disinterest in purchasing music. Call me crazy, but that's what I think. The one exception I'd make would be for Santigold and those damned Bud Lime ads – against all better judgment, I get giddy every time they come on. I can't help it, I just love Santigold, even if the beer tastes like the organic window cleaner my wife buys.