Last week, the Outer Harbor Concert Series was teasing the announcement of two big shows, and after today's unveiling, it's clear the organizers weren't lying. The first and biggest land, Vampire Weekend, is set for Monday, June 9th (doors 6pm, show 7pm), and second, a loaded bill of City and Colour, Tokyo Police Club, and Young the Giant, on Friday, July 11th (doors 6pm, show 7pm). Vampire Weekend is still riding the critical success of Modern Vampires of the City, the band's third, and in this writer's opinion, best release yet. VW recently played Rochester's Main Street Armory, but hasn't graced Buffalo since their early days, so expect this to be a much hyped and anticipated affair. As for the second show, it has been said before and it will be said again: Buffaloians LOVE Canadian bands. While the Hip won't be touring this summer, City and Colour and Tokyo Police Club are sure to fill the Canadian fix, and along with California's Young the Giant, both will be making welcome returns to the WNY area after numerous visits in the past. The folks over at the Outer Harbor Series and Alternative Buffalo (the series' co-presenters) have been nice enough to give the blog a pair of tickets for each show to give away this week. Make sure to follow us on all forms of social media (facebook, twitter, instagram) this Wednesday for a chance to snag two Vampire Weekend tickets, and Thursday for City and Colour/Tokyo Police Club/Young the Giant. If you aren't lucky enough to win the giveaway, tickets will go on sale to the general public this Friday, March 14th, at 12pm. Vampire Weekend tickets will run $39 in advance/$43 day of, while City and Colour and co. will be $42/$47. Tickets can be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets, in addition to the Town Ballrom and After Dark offices.
If 2013 ended today, I am confident in saying that this year has already blown 2012 away by a mile. Between long awaited follow ups (Daft Punk), continued greatness (Deerhunter, The National, Vampire Weekend), and exciting debuts (Atoms for Peace, Rhye), 2013 has been one of those years that keeps me excited for the future of music.
Over the next five days, our writers will be discussing their favorite albums and songs at the half way point of 2013. I know that personally, I always enjoy looking back at these lists to see how the second half of the year measures up to the first, and if early releases will hold up against the fresher, flavor of the moment, songs and LPs. Anyways, here begins our recap of 2013's first six months in music. Make sure to check back all week for what should be (at least I hope) a diverse collection of picks.
- Mac McGuire (Editor-in-Chief)
Steve Gordon
Album: Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin San Francisco garage monsters Thee Oh Sees have been crazy busy the last couple years, dropping clumps of records and touring incessantly. 2013 saw the release of Floating Coffin, probably one of their best offerings in years. It's often quite heavy, but cleaner songwriting and an increase in production quality allow John Dwyer and Brigid Dawson's vocal harmonies to cut through the rancid, grimy mix, lending a sense accessibility amidst the decay.
Song: Anamanaguchi - "Meow"
Brooklyn's chip-punk quartet, Anamanaguchi, were relegated to videogame nerd circles before they announced the upcoming release of Endless Fantasy, their debut LP, earlier this year (to be released on vinyl, CD, download, USB, and, yep, functioning NES cartridge). The DIY project raised over $277,000 on Kickstarter (well beyond the $50K they asked for) largely on the strength of lead single "Meow," a futureshock psych romp that's danceable, nostalgic, and catchier than the Mario theme.
Nick Sessanna Album: Deafheaven - Sunbather
Deafheaven's Sunbather is an hour long collection showcasing an impossible mix of shoegaze and black metal. Throughout Sunbather, atonal washes of screams mix with enormous guitar lines, somber piano dirges, some spoken word, and everything in between. In this case, Deafheaven somehow has just as much in common with Sigur Ros as they do with Converge. Black metal drums and screams somehow mix beautifully with the otherwise not-so-heavy guitar tracks. Thick with delay, reverb, and other effects, Sunbather is a swirling vortex of noise, albeit a beautiful one.
Song: Weatherbox - "Big News"
In the words of Weatherbox singer Brian Warren, "This song is about staying in your room for two months, thinking that everybody in the world hates you, and then coming out and realizing you were right." If a few months and all my friendships are all it takes to write a song like "Big News," I think it might be a risk worth taking. Weatherbox has discovered a penchant for inserting pop-sensibility into a discordant frame, mixing frantic guitars into a calm rhythm-section skeleton. There's something a little off about this song, but essentially that's what makes Weatherbox so great. Nothing about it should work, but it does.
Cliff Parks Album: Daft Punk - Random Access Memories I wrestled with this for a good while, but the album that’s taken over is Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. It’s a record with a mission I can and do subscribe to, it’s super dense with information, you can actually shake your ass to it in a rhythmic fashion, and it’s a ton of fun to listen to. For all of its obvious artifice and sharp, stylized clarity, it has heart and soul, achieving genuine artistic transcendence. Plus, you can actually dance to it. Please note: I am in no way an EDM fan. Song: Daft Punk feat Pharrell & Nile Rodgers - "Get Lucky" I wrestled with this one too. Should I go with something off of the new Vampire Weekend, Charles Bradley, or that epic M83/Susanne Sjundfor ditty for the Oblivion soundtrack? Nope, it’s more Daft Punk, because “Get Lucky” is wickedly, absurdly good. I can’t begin to guess how many times I’ve heard it in the last few months and I still adore it. It’s the song of the summer, and probably the song of the year. Nile Rodgers is a guitar genius, pure and simple.
John Hugar
Album: City & Colour - The Hurry And The Harm
When I saw the announcement that a new City & Colour album was coming out, I was cautiously optimistic. Their last album, 2011's Little Hell, is one of my favorite albums of the past decade, and I didn't think the follow-up could possibly be on anywhere near the same level. I've since learned to never doubt Dallas Green, as The Hurry And The Harm is right there with its predecessor, and may even surpass it. The opening title track creates a cinematic feel lasting throughout the album, while "Two Coins" ranks among the deepest songs Green has ever written. Fans of his punkier work in Alexisonfire may still be getting used to this new direction, but Dallas Green is one of the best songwriters around, and folk suits him extremely well.
Song: Yo La Tengo - "Is That Enough"
Yo La Tengo have tried many things over their nearly 30 years of existence, but until now, orchestration was not one of them. The addition of a string section to a band not usually known for that can be sign of creative stagnation, but in this case, it's a sign of a band who's never been afraid of anything continuing to ope new doors. "Is That Enough" is an easy highlight of their excellent new album Fade, and it ranks among the most beautiful songs the band has ever written. After this long of a career, Yo La Tengo shows no signs of decline, with regards to both quality and ambition.
I expected the show to be good, I expected to be entertained... In the end, I was thoroughly impressed and, quite honestly, blown away.
Several months ago, my sister had asked me if I wanted to go see City and Colour in Toronto. I agreed to go to the show despite knowing nothing of the band besides the fact that Dallas Green (the man who started/is City and Colour) is one of my sister's favorite musicians... that was enough for me.
I casually listened through CC's material and was drawn in by the stripped down, raw sound of a man with an acoustic guitar. I was a little apprehensive about how the show would go over, however. The show was being held at the Molson Amphitheatre, the same place I had seen rock artists such as Robert Plant and Iron Maiden. I thought to myself, "how is a solo acoustic show going to work at a huge venue like that?"
Well, I'll tell you how.
Dallas was accompanied by several extremely talented musicians for most of the set. Sure there were the obligatory lone-man-with-an-acoustic songs, which were performed with oodles of heart and soul, but where the concert really shined (for me) was when the band accompanied many of the songs.
3 and 4 minute album tracks turned into 6+ minute jams featuring twangy guitar licks, dirty organs, and pedal steel bliss, all kept in harmony by a steady rhythm section of bass and drums. It was incredible how much the band filled out the songs and gave the material a differnt feel. I got a pronounced My Morning Jacket vibe from a few songs, which I greatly enjoyed.
I still don't know many songs by name (full setlist can be found here) , but I certainly recognized all the ones that I have come to know over the past few weeks and was especially taken by the renditions of "Sleeping Sickness" and "Comin' Home."
It was clear that many in the crowd had much more tacit knowledge of the material than I did, as Dallas was joined by the thousands in attendance in singing many of the songs... The only song I knew more than the chorus to was his show ending cover of Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane." I found it entirely appropriate for Dallas to cover Neil Young, the original acoustic troubadour of Canada, in his home city. I can see a lot of Neil's influence in CC's catalog.
The entire show was recorded and I am sincerely hoping for a live album and or DVD/Blu-Ray release thanks to the impeccable performance, choice of songs, and full-band-interpretations.
All in all, I'm elated that I was able to attend the sold out performance and I am kicking myself for missing the recent performance of City and Colour at Niagara Falls' Rapids Theater; it would have been excellent to see Dallas perform in a smaller venue... oh well, I'll be there next time.
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