All posts in: Electric Feel

26 Jul 2010

Capitol Hill Block Party 2010: Recap

I don’t believe that there will any other weekend this summer that will be able to top this one. I did not have a 3-day pass to the block party, but that doesn’t mean we weren’t on the hill all three days. I also decided that since I wasn’t doing any interviews or committing to any projects for this year’s block party I was going to have fun with my best friend. Unfortunately, that means no street style photos 🙁 There are photos everywhere though! They can be found in this Flickr group that was made to collect the pool of photos from this weekend.

Friday: DAY1

Yeasayer: First off, Mayor Mike McGinn mispronounced their name while introducing the band. Bad start. Yeasayer was actually one of the bands that I was really looking forward to seeing ever since my friend Max got me into them. I don’t know where this performance went wrong, but it did horribly. The sound was way off. We weren’t too far away, but it always seemed too muffled. Their inability to impress us made us go elsewhere.

Holy Fuck: Holy Fuck was one of the many bands that blew everyone away at Capitol Hill Block Party this weekend. The reviews were so good that they named them as the band that stole away the entire show – even from MGMT. Last year, I had the opportunity to see Holy Fuck perform at San Diego’s Street Scene and they immediately became my new favorite group. They have a way of doing things so effortlessly. There’s a lot that goes into their sound, but they manage to pull it off w/ ease considering how complex all of it is. If you ever have the chance to see Holy Fuck live, please do it. It might just change your life. Don’t believe me? Read the reviews!

MGMT: When word got out that MGMT was going to be performing at this year’s Capitol Hill Block Party, young college students and jr. high preteens all over Seattle were about to shell out their money for a chance to hear “Electric Feel,” “Kids,” and “Time to Pretend.” They were the only songs that they knew. You could tell that the majority of the crowd weren’t even fans because they were unfamiliar with their new CD “Congratulations.” I wasn’t even close to MGMT during their set, but there were people around me that were still asking who the band was halfway through the set!

At the end of the night, Holy Fuck won over my heart once again. Sorry MGMT, I wasn’t feelin’ it.

Sunday: DAY 3

Blue Scholars: They’re local favorites and they have performed at nearly every single venue in the area including my own high school. Mayor Mike McGinn took the stage once again to claim that they were his favorite rap group. Meanwhile everyone’s thinking “you can get off the stage now…” haha For my first time seeing them, I would say that they are so-so. They know how to get a crowd going and they realized that they weren’t at any music festival. They were at the Capitol Hill Block Party so they needed to make it more hipster friendly, which they did by pairing their raps with The XX’s “Intro” [I loved] and Modest Mouse’s “Float On.” After awhile though, I had had enough about hearing the 206 and 808 area codes repeatedly.

The Dead Weather: What an experience it was to finally get to see The Dead Weather perform. There was a lot of hype swirling around them considering they were the band to close out the Capitol Hill Block Party. What I liked about them was that they were very different from all of the bands and artists that came out this weekend. They were fucking rock stars and they just didn’t give a shit about anything. For the most part, Capitol Hill Block Party had a very upbeat, poppy, energetic atmosphere surrounding it, but The Dead Weather wasn’t afraid to get dark. Alison Mosshart, hair in her face and owning that stage was terrifying. At the end of the night I didn’t really feel like I was at Block Party anymore, but maybe at a satisfying end to a beautiful funeral. The Dead Weather has made me write sentences that I didn’t even know could make any sense at all.

Now I would like to commend a special group of people at the Capitol Hill Block Party. They are the most dedicated fans you have ever seen. They sacrifice their hunger, thirst, and bladder. However, they leave the show feeling the most satisfied out of anyone though. A couple of bruises mean nothing when you get to be up against the fence for the entire day watching your favorite artists perform on the main stage. For that, you deserve some sort of an award or something.

Congratulations, I hope the stench and discomfort were worth it!

To view the rest click here

I’d like to finish off this lengthy post with some lessons learned from this year’s experience:

  • Never let your friend pee in a water bottle if he refuses to go to the bathrooms and loses his spot. He must hold it. The pee will get on you.
  • It beats the vom though.
  • Be polite. If you are moving through the crowd, say “Sorry” and “Excuse me.” like your parents taught you to. Do it with a smile and no one will even think twice about giving you a back hand to the face.
  • Avoid pushing through the crowd to the front with a chain of people behind you. If everyone had the opportunity to be closer, they would. Let’s not be selfish now.
  • Make friends with your neighbors! They’re awesome.
  • Dress appropriately. Don’t over-do it.
  • Don’t puke. No one likes the vom.
22 Jun 2010

Are we famous or are we just humans?

Before I get on with this, I just want to say that there is nothing better than dancing Florence and the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over” just before midnight. If you haven’t heard it yet, lucky for you I made it a “Song of the Day” just a few days ago. Clapping and drum beats included.

*****

The second album release is always the deal breaker for me. I either love it or I hate it. The second album release tells me one of two things.

1) The band or artist went with the “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it method.” Having gained the respect and appreciation of their fans the first time around they continue to play the music they always loved while slightly producing a more developed sound with each album.

2) The first CD was a huge success, but the people running the business insist that what everyone wants is a new direction right now and the band believes it because their new to the industry.

Now you’re looking back on all of these second albums wondering which of your favorite bands has conformed. Keep in mind that this is only one perspective. This doesn’t mean it’s true for everyone because we all know that some bands don’t make it out of the first album. However, I’ve seen this theory on more than just a few bands. If you’re a fan of a musician or a band for life then it doesn’t matter. However, the reason I was reminded of this was because of a recent MGMT article that I read and found quite interesting.

This year, MGMT released their second album “Congratulations.” It’s a great album. It’s nothing like their first “Oracular Spectacular,” which produced hits such as “Kids,” “Electric Feel” and “Time to Pretend.” A lot of their fans gave them flack for it because of their expectations of their first album, but I commend them for producing a sound all their own. It seemed like they have been wanting to do that for awhile. If you’re an aspiring musician and you’re looking for help to release your first album, you might want to consider using an audio engineer to help your music fit together correctly. Online Mastering could be an idea to research into if you’re looking for someone to help perfect your work and to help you find your sound.

Read this awesome article here

21 Mar 2010

MGMT gives an F U to mainstream

Wanna hear the new album? Just go to their official website Whoismgmt.com to stream their entire CD. Let me just warn you though, don’t listen to it expecting any Electric Feel, Kids, or Time to Pretend because you are most definitely NOT going to get that. Good for the MGMT guys who have gone in this new direction. I suspect that there may have been some re-evaluation after that last album.

How do I feel about this album?

Not gonna lie, I was expecting some dance electropop, but now that I didn’t get it, it’s kind of refreshing. The first few songs reminded me of Vampire Weekend actually and now I’m left wondering how crowds will react when they perform their upcoming shows.