buffaBLOG - The Buffalo music blog: beach house

Showing posts with label beach house. Show all posts

beach house, food, larkin square, Prince — 0 comments

Odds and Sods 8/21

As everybody now knows, Prince finally joined Twitter to share selfies, tasty new sound clips, and a classy reference to Dave Chappelle. Yes, these are all wonderful developments to be savored and obsessed over, but what's really got me excited was a 10 minute YouTube video he posted featuring a face meltingly wonderful live "She's Always In My Hair." Does this mean that the Purple One has made peace with YouTube? Does this mean more Prince music will be finding its way online? One can only hope because his self imposes YT exile isn't helping him out, and frankly I've been dying to watch and share Prince videos for years. People are bent out of shape because people have never heard of 'Nsynch? Who cares. There are people alive who haven't heard "Adore." It's time.

I finally got my ass down to Larkinville for one of their Food Truck Tuesdays and hallelujah, they got that totally right. The first thing you hear when you get anywhere nearby is tasteful funk courtesy of a DJ not too cool to dance with the little kids dancing to his beats, and it feels like everybody is there, walking around, eating and drinking, with families everywhere. Of course you get that many food trucks together you know it's going to be a hipster convention, but the whole thing is so cool, inclusive, and unpretentious that it's all good, with hipsters hanging out with families and senior citizens. Food, beer and wine, and beats. It doesn't get much better. Next year though, I'd love to see something even funkier, like a monthly late night food truck rodeo that's off the hook, with the trucks going wild with offerings and either vintage Old Pink DJ stylings or less family friendly funk in keeping with the late night vibe. Yes!

The VICE Creators Project strikes again with a short film featuring music from Beach House. By Todd Cole and Rodarte, This Must Be The Only Fantasy is vintage teen angst, with a haunting and unassuming soundtrack from the Baltimore indie darlings. Enjoy, and geek out,

2 chainz, 2012, bass, beach house, best of 2012, EDM, flosstradamus, girl unit, james, Kendrick Lamar, lumineers, major lazer, phedre, purity ring, staff picks, the game, Toronto, trap — 0 comments

buffaBLOG's Best of 2012: Staff Picks - James Wild

It was really hard for me to pick favorites this year. Though I agree with both Mac and Steve G. that this year lacked by comparison in quantity of good albums and good songs, the quality of music produced this year, I believe, reached new heights. When it comes to choosing albums, songs, and shows what are the boundaries? Are there any? I listen to Mixtapes, EPs, whatever. Can an EP count as an album? Shut up. OK there a few things I tried to abide by. One being that my "Favorite Shows" are my favorite shows that I saw in Buffalo in 2012--this is buffaBLOG after all. Everything else are my real favs. There are a few surprises. Here is the music that aroused me in 2012.

Favorite Albums of 2012

1. Beach House - Bloom

Bloom topped many people's "best-of" lists in 2012, This haunting and epic portrait of life I did not fully comprehend until seeing Beach House live at Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. After gluing the live translation of this work into my brain went on repeat in my earbuds. Earbuds didn't do it justice. The music on this album is so rich and so beautiful, that it would be hard for even an armadillo to ignore. This needs to be listened to at a high quality level. It makes a difference. Bloom speaks to me more than Beach House's last album Teen Dream. Not the soupy lyrics--but how the sound speaks to me-- how the guitar cries out to my heart! I think something that you can listen to and enjoy from start to finish is what makes a great album. Bloom is enjoyed fully only after side B plays all the way through, and you hear the needle bumping the bridge of the record.

2. Purity Ring - Shrines

Perhaps one of my most memorable moments at Mohawk Place was talking with Megan James and Corin Roddick of Purity Ring after their show in August 2011. They were so energized and wanting to talk with the small crowd after the show. Since then they have received much deserved attention. When Shrines came out I had already heard just about every song on it. Their debut album was mostly the songs I was already too familiar with. So why did it not detract anything from me liking it? Because it is of thoughtful composition. A great album celebrates the process of evoking emotion from the listener. Shrines is another album from 2012 that does that for me.

3. Phèdre - PHÈDRE

The most known unknown. Phèdre is a mysterious Toronto based "band" that unleashed this sexually imbued music as their debut, and it is truly one of my favorites from this year. The songs are short. There aren't that many. Phèdre drowns pop music in a vat of red wine and gold glitter. The feeling I get when listening to this is comparable to the same bit of glory that occurs when doing a tiny bump of K after a long night of using MDMA, which I'll never ever do again Mom. Often when I hear "In Decay" I find myself erect as if Zoey Deschanel was nibbling on my earlobe.

Honorable Mention:

The Game - Jesus Piece

Though only a few weeks old, this was the rap album I was waiting for! I really liked releases from 2 Chainz, and Kendrick, and Rick Ross this year, but none of them were comparable to this as a FULL album. This is the type of Hip-Hop album that I listened to in high school, provocative story telling. It has everything you could ask for. For me it was a toss-up between this and 2 Chainz-Based on a T.R.U. Story. I chose this because I knew it would turn some heads, just as it turned my head when I first heard it only a few weeks ago. The Game basically admits to knowing who killed Biggie on the album. He doesn't snitch, but he is extremely deliberate about everything. Consider that the only thing I really relate to is defining one's own character. I have never driven a phantom before.

Favorite Songs of 2012

1. Major Lazer - "Original Don" (Flosstradamus Remix)

This was the song...er...track that started it all. I mean the Fosstradamus remix. In my opinion it started the Trap<->EDM movement that flourished this year. I happened to like the original Major Lazer song too, but this remix literally took over and was played at every hip dance party. Admittedly it lost it's luster as it became overplayed. And the "Damn son, where'd you find this?" sample got to be downright annoying, but the impact that this song had on an entire movement that is still going on is undeniable.

2. 2 Chainz - "I'm Different"
Truly my favorite song of the year. 2 Chainz basically explains to the world why he is unique. The way that he raps is idiosyncratic. "I'm Different" is a shinning example of that.

3. Girl Unit - "Club Rez & Ensemble" (Club Mix)
Girl Unit is more known for their more bassy singles. When they put out the Club Rez EP this year I was delighted. To any lover of EDM music I urge you to listen. There is a cacophany of styles and sounds in these two particular songs is so well thought out. "Club Rez" takes me to a nightclub in my fantasy land. It is the type of song that makes you raise your head and hands towards the sky in a direct connection with the gods. And "Ensemble" is equally as hair raising, from the dancefloor of a celestial discotheque.

Favorite Show of 2012

2 Chainz at Town Ballroom on December 3, 2012

Every time I see a Hip-Hop show I always set the bar very low. There's too many variables, shitty sound, bad mics, arrogant performers. 2 Chainz put on the best Hip-Hop show I have seen in Buffalo. He commanded the stage like a good actor. Esentially he is an actor. Maybe that's why I like him so much, because of what a charachter he is. That night's performance was intelligent and catered to Buffalo. Per his instagram and twitter he seems to genuinely enjoy and put in the effort needed for his performances, and he certainly did so for Buffalo that evening.

I was so blessed to see so much good live music this year. I even got to see the Lumineers in front of a packed small crowd at Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto at NXNE, and now they're nominated for two Grammys including Best New Artist! Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago was absolutely amazing. But the best part about this year is how much local music scene is bubbling. Seeing and hearing bands and DJs do their thing in their city is so gratifying for Buffalo and for all of us. Here's to good fortune, good health, and good music in the next year!

beach house, Cliff, Concert Review, kool haus, Tor-Buff-Chester, Toronto — 0 comments

Concert Review: Beach House

The sold out crowd for the Beach House show at Kool Haus in Toronto last Saturday night was treated to a tour de force performance by the Baltimore duo (and touring drummer) on their twelfth performance in Toronto that confirmed their status as indie uber darlings and as an ongoing indictment of the piss poor state of the major record labels. That Beach House wasn't signed to a major label after their breakout album Teen Dream was preposterous; but now, after their magnificent follow up Bloom it's a crime. Such thoughts however were the furthest things from the ecstatic crowd's minds as Beach House bewitched us thoroughly.

But first, we got to enjoy an excellent set from Poor Moon, a damned fine side project from two guys from Fleet Foxes: Christian Wargo and Casey Westcott. A trippy fusion of late 60's unhinged Wilson era Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, and Syd Barrett Pink Floyd, Poor Moon laid down a set that reminded me of a side of The Beach Boys' Smiley Smile, with each song either bleeding into the next or linked by instrumental psychedelic interludes. The reverb drenched psychedelic chamber pop initially caught the crowd off guard, but they caught on soon enough, and it was refreshing to hear truly psychedelic music at a show without a light show, allowing for a keener attention to the musical details: the Hal Blaine drum fills, the xylophone, tambourines, shakers, extensive harmonies, and tasteful vintage songcraft. There was a lot going on, but it all came together and the crowd loved it because it set up the headliner perfectly.

Before I go any further, it should be noted that I am a total fan of Beach House. Teen Dream blew my mind in March 2010, their Town Ballroom show that June sealed the deal, and their opening set for Vampire Weekend in Rochester that October was spectacular, with the genuine feeling of arrival. I have every faith that Beach House will play Buffalo next year (they just gotta), but this year is all about them playing the big markets in support of their excellent fourth album Bloom, and Buffalo's going to have to wait. I however could not, so it was off to Toronto for my third this year. Thankfully everything played out according to plan. No deer were hit on the QEW, the band I intended to see was the band that I ended up seeing (unlike the Radiohead show, which became the free Flaming Lips NXNE show last June), and Beach House were utterly sublime.

There's just something magical and transfixing watching a band almost hide in the shadows and draw you in with their spacious and gorgeous sound. The lights went down, the mist flowed, and out of their artfully placed shadows Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally (with touring drummer Dan Franz) ripped through a powerful set consisting almost entirely of songs from Teen Dream and Bloom; in fact it was the few songs not from those albums that slowed down the intense slow burn and gave us a break from the intensifying slow burn that climaxed with thunderous performances of "Myth,""10 Mile Stereo" and "Irene." It's easy to talk about "atmosphere" and "vibes" at a Beach House show, but in the live context it's their exquisite song craft that shines the most; the way their songs build within themselves until finding release, making for a captivating, almost heightened experience. All while hiding mysteriously behind shadows.

Legrand and Scally owned the Kool Haus crowd for the duration of their set, from the opener "Wild" to the show's potent and almost ecstatic closer "Irene;" Alex Scally laying down magnificent and perfect guitar lines and Victoria Legrand regally yet mysteriously presiding over the reverent and spellbound audience. Indeed, already a cult has formed around Beach House, and deservedly so. Beautifully wrought songs, perfect execution on album and in live performance, glorious and enchanting musicianship, and the careful preservation of their mystery in this age of over-sharing and Twitter... how could there not be a devoted cult around them? Judging by that profound Beach House show last Saturday, it's a cult that will be getting a lot bigger.

Start praying for a Buffalo date next year on Beach House's 2013 tour - it'll be worth it.

And just what the hell is Tor-Buff-Chester you ask (those of you that pay attention to the labels for these blog posts)? Well apparently back in 2006 somebody decided that the megalopolis (a string of cities) concept was making a comeback and the international Toronto-Buffalo-Rochester corridor was on the list. Yippee for us. But seriously, we as Buffalo music fans already knew that because we spend time and money in Toronto and Rochester, and for my money any Buffalo music blog that doesn't ain't worth a hill of beans (buffaBLOG however is indispensable), hence the Tor-Buff-Chester label. My heart of course belongs to Buffalo, but still... megalopolis living might be where it's at.

beach house, iceage, king krule, Photo Review, pitchfork, pitchfork music festival, real estate, the men, tom, ty segall, vampire weekend — 0 comments

Pitchfork Music Festival 2012: Day 3 Photos

So it's been a whole week since Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago and we've had a lot of fun looking back on the whole experience. The final day of the festival was the best day by far weather-wise and many would also say music-wise with performances from Iceage, Ty Segall, The Men, Real Estate, King Krule, Beach House, and Vampire Weekend to name a few. Check out all the pictures from day 3 below.

Iceage