I’ve been stupid busy lately with shows. Thankfully I have a couple of weeks off until more great music rolls our way.
Here’s what I’ve been up to over the last few weeks:
Concert Review – White Denim, Maps and Atlases, Tiny Victories at Lincoln Theater, Raleigh, NC
Album Review – The Infamous Stringdusters, Silver Sky
Concert Review – Jimmy Herring Band & Victor Wooten Band, Carolina Theater, Durham, NC
Enjoy these shots from the shows!
If you’ve been following the Twitter feed you know that I’m currently embroiled in the Hopscotch Music Festival. Look for a review and lots of photos in a few days.
In the meantime, I wanted to post a couple of my things that went up at Glide Magazine recently: a review of Jimmy Herring’s insanely awesome new album Subject To Change Without Notice, and a review of Perpetual Groove’s August 16, 2012 show at The Lincoln Theater. See below for a few photos from that show!
At The Pour House Music Hall in Raleigh, Steve Mang embodies the phrase “he’s a regular”. The guy is second only to the employees when it comes to attendance, and he’s seen a ludicrous amount of music at the venue, so you know he won’t steer you wrong when vouching for music. “The Oatmeal Conspiracy is always good,” he said, heading into the venue for a St. Patrick’s Day triple-bill that featured them along with two more bands, Triple Wide and Waylandsphere.
Pearsall, Bryce, and Morton
Anyone that frequents the bar knows that those three names on a poster means one thing – a night of non-stop collaboration where three bands take on a group mindset. The difference on this night, though, was the deep, rich sound of two relatively new local bands turning the corner and heading toward bigger and better things. The Triple Wide foursome is coming up on two years together, and there’s been a pronounced increase in familiarity amongst the band since their inception. Their newfound confidence and tightness has greatly benefited every aspect of their music. The Oatmeal Conspiracy has been together for much longer, but recently unearthed an entirely new sound thanks to the addition of a full-time bassist. The two bands are playing better than they ever have right now, and the combination of the two groups on this holiday night only amplified that fact. Continue reading
Check out my review of Umphrey’s McGee’s recent stop in Charlotte, NC at Glide Magazine!
It’s unfortunate that our first reporting about two of the Midwest’s best events – Rothbury and 10,000 Lake Festival – is that they aren’t happening this year. The 10K Lakes website makes no bones about the fact that finances are the issue, while Rothbury is more vague, stating that the performance and recording schedules of their desired artists have derailed their efforts to put on a “cutting edge” event this year. In other news, I have a nice mountaintop residence in Kansas I would love to sell to anyone who is interested.
Mulberry Mountain in Ozark, Arkansas will again host the Wakarusa festival the weekend of June 3-6, 2010. Their first wave of artists includes Sound Tribe Sector Nine, The Disco Biscuits, Zappa Plays Zappa, Slightly Stoopid, John Butler Trio, Lotus, Blues Traveler, Railroad Earth, Tea Leaf Green, ALO, Mofro, The Machine, Bassnectar, Boombox, Split Lip Rayfield, Ivan neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Trampled By Turtles, and many more.
Joshua Tree Music Festival continues to add to their ever-esoteric lineup, and the latest participants include Mexican Institute of Sound, Radio Devi, and D Numbers.
DelFest has added The Gibson Brothers, Uncle Earl, The Bridge, and Trampled by Turtles.
Our beloved Bonnaroo clue givers have been busy, and so far it looks like the solid lineup answers include Ingrid Michaelson, John Prine, Tinariwen, Dan Deacon, and Deadmau5, along with the other highly rumored acts.
My review of the October 11, 2009 Allman Brothers Band/Widespread Panic show at Walnut Creek is now up at Glide Magazine’s Hidden Track Blog! Go here to read and see Dave Rogers’ amazing photos!
“Out of the Blue,” the strongest song on YMSB’s The Show, leads off the album, and false hopes abound in the song’s galloping rhythm and focused songwriting. The Show quickly becomes a real head-scratcher for YMSB fans with song number two – “Complicated” – which shares more than just a name with the horrible Avril Lavigne song. Vocalist Jeff 
Austin sounds strained and unnatural, and the music is strangely unremarkable given the band’s past songwriting successes. Unlike their last studio effort, which was a polished and engaging album that subtly moved the band beyond the trappings of bluegrass, The Show just tries to be too different. “Steep Grade Sharp Curves” is one of their finer recent efforts, but that’s about the extent of it. The modern country stomp of “Fingerprint” sounds like it was written to appease the merch-buying masses, and the experience declines even more from there. I could go on about how each track – from the incredibly boring “Honestly” to the sappy “Dreams” to the intolerable “Isolation” – is equally dissapointing as the album goes along, but there’s no need to pile on. YMSB is a great band that made a pretty significant miscalculation here.
Rating: 4.9 out of 10
My review of the Gov’t Mule and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit show at the Lincoln Theatre Street Stage is up at Hidden Track – Glide Magazine’s Blog. Take a look at it won’t you?
–Check out iClips this weekend and enjoy some of the music from the All Good Festival without all of the mountaintop madness. Schedule is as follows:
Friday, July 10
7:15pm – Todd Snyder
7:45pm – Les Claypool
9:15pm – TBA
10:00pm – Bob Weir & Ratdog
12:00am – Jackie Greene
12:45am – moe.
Saturday, July 11
6:30pm – Yonder Mountain String Band
8:00pm – Lake Trout
8:30pm – STS9
10:00pm – Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk
10:45pm – Ben Harper & RELENTLESS7
12:15am – TBA
1:00am – Umphrey’s McGee
Sunday, July 12
2:40pm – Tea Leaf Green
3:55pm – BK3 feat. Bill Kreutzmann
4:55pm – Dark Star Orchestra
–And now, your low-calorie serving of irony for the day.
-Pearl Jam have revealed plans for their next album release – Backspacer arrives September 20, and there are tour dates, of course.
Pearl Jam 2009 Tour Dates as of today:
Aug. 8 – Calgary, AB @ Virgin Fest
Aug. 21 – Toronto, ON @ Molson Amphitheatre
Aug. 23 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
Aug. 24 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
Aug. 28 – San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Festival
Sept. 21 – Seattle, WA @ Key Arena
Sept. 22 – Seattle, WA @ Key Arena
Sept. 30 – Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amphitheatre
Oct. 1 – Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amphitheatre
Oct. 4 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival
Oct. 6 – Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amphitheatre
Oct. 7 – Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amphitheatre
Oct. 9 – San Diego, CA @ Viejas Arena
Oct. 28 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Spectrum
Oct. 30 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Spectrum
-San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival has announced the initial lineup for the free event, which takes place at Golden Gate Park October 2-4, 2009. The first announced acts look just great, and the lineup includes Okkervil River, Del McCoury Band, Robyn Hitchcock, Aimee Mann, Allen Toussaint, Dr. Dog, Neko Case, Booker T. and the DBT’s, and many more. Hit their website for all the info.
-Virgin Mobile has downsized their summer music festival, and the event is now free. Virgin Mobile FreeFest takes place August 30, 2009 at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, and will feature Weezer, The Hold Steady, Public Enemy, The National, Wale, Girl Talk, Franz Ferdinand, and more, plus a dance tent lineup.
-Alternative/experimental rock pioneers Sunny Day Real Estate have announced a reunion tour. I might break something if I see them referred to as “emo” again, so I’m posting this and not reading any more articles about the reunion for a while. Too bad they aren’t coming around here, only to D.C. and Atlanta. Just goes to show that Chapel Hill/Carrboro is now a far cry from the music mecca it once was.
Sunny Day Real Estate 2009 Reunion Tour Dates
09-17 Vancouver, British Columbia – Commodore Ballroom
09-18 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
09-20 Murray, UT – Murray Theater
09-21 Denver, CO – Ogden Theater
09-23 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
09-24 Chicago, IL – Metro
09-25 Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall
09-27 New York, NY – Terminal Five
09-28 Boston, MA – House of Blues
09-30 Washington, D.C. – 930 Club
10-01 Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero
10-03 Atlanta, GA – CW Center Stage
10-05 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
10-06 Houston, TX – Warehouse Live – Ballroom
10-07 Austin, TX – La Zona Rosa
10-09 Tempe, AZ – Marquee
10-10 Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
10-11 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theater
10-13 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
10-15 Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
10-16 Seattle, WA – Paramount Theater
–Phish have announced the title and tracklist for their first album in 5 years. Joy will be released later this summer and will include many songs that have already been tested in the live setting. The tracklist is as follows:
1. Twenty Years Later
2. Backwards Down the Number Line
3. Stealing Time From the Faulty Plan
4. Light
5. Joy
6. Sugar Shack
7. Ocelot
8. Kill Devil Falls
9. I’ve Been Around
10. Time Turns Elastic
The Wounded Messenger 