So Weezer is going around the country right now and inviting fans to play songs with them. They recently stopped in Seattle. My co-worker was one of the lucky ones to play along with them. Check out a couple of the tracks they recorded, especially a great cover of Creep.
So I am always a sucker for a good rock band AND good rock bands with girls that rock out!! I have heard nothing but great things about the Von Bondies live shows, so I had to jump on the chance to see them live. After an awful first opening band, some old guys doing lots of leg kicks, and the Die! Die! Die! played, the Von Bondies took the stage and started to rip it up. Everything I heard from friends or online was totally spot on, the Von Bondies put on a great live show. They played some of my favorites including No Regrets, C’mon C’mon, Not That Social with members of Die! Die! Die!, and Fever. Jason really blew me away with his range, and Christy can really shred, she was so cute dancing around with her SG. It was a great show, and if you get the chance to check out the Von Bondies live go for it. Check out photos from the show. I might even make the trip up to Vancouver to see them at Richards on Richards on Saturday.
Die! Die! Die! is a punk noise band from New Zealand. They opened for The Von Bondies at the High Dive and put on a pretty fun show. Lots of running into the crowd which was cool. Check out the pics.
So I got to see Metric tonight for the second time, and it was a great show. Emily was really playful with the crowd and the band was really tight. Emily was sporting a Jimi Hendrix t-shirt for the locals in Seattle. It was great to see them up close and personal this time as the last time I saw them I was fairly far back, but this time I was smack up front. I snapped a fair amount of photos from this show, but I have come to the conclusion that I need a new digital camera that does low light levels fairly well if not excellent. I didn’t remove any photos, so there are a fair amount of blurry shots as well as some black ones. But I hope you like the photos.
So I went and checked out Metric tonight (more on that later), but this Canadian band Crystal Castles penned for them and was pretty cool to see live. Crystal Castle has two members, Ethan Fawn and Alice, as well as a touring drummer. Their sound can only be described as 8-bit riot dance, or if you took various sounds from classic Nintendo Entertainment System games, and threw them up with a Casio keyboard. It doesn’t sound very pleasant but it is pretty awesome once you hear it. Alice was dancing all around the stage while Ethan was stuck behind his various array of keyboards and synths. They have a full length album coming out in February 2008, but here is a sample of their work. Listen to more on their MySpace page.
So Explosions in the Sky were on Conan a couple weeks ago. Check it out.
So the good ol’ guys over on NeoGAF had their monthly ‘What are you listening to’ thread and there were some bands that I thought I’d check out, and The National was one of those bands. The National is releasing their latest album Boxer on May 22, and from the tracks I have found on various websites it is a really great album. Very mellow and easy to listen too. The lead singer, Matt Berninger, has this rasp to him that reminds me of Nick Cave and Paul Bank from Interpol. The first song on the album is Fake Empire which is a piano driven song that you would listen to before bed or you would hear in that slow poinent moment during a movie. The second song on the album Mistaken for Strangers is where the I really get the Interpol feeling from. Perhaps it is just the drums on the track and the light driving guitar loop, not to mention the vocals. I’ll try to write more in the coming weeks when I am able to get the whole album, but if the tracks I have listened to give any indication, the album should be great. Now take a listen to the first song Fake Empire.
So I saw Mew again and they were amazing as expected. They put on a great set again, with their backdrop of violin playing cats. I took lots of photos, but majority of them turned out like crap sadly. I really think I need to investigate getting a new camera for taking concert photos, the good ol’ Casio camera I have just doesn’t do motion in the dark that well.
Beck played Letterman a while back and had Borat come out and play with him. Worth checking out this more upbeat version of Nausea
My Morning Jacket is insane, but an awesome insane. Check out the lead singers boots in this video from Conan.
Via my good friends at NeoGAF, I took a listen to the new album from Brand New and it is really good. They happen to be playing Conan, so I thought I’d record it. Enjoy.
This is a classic clip of Death from Above 1979 on Conan from a while ago. This isn’t my recording, so the quality isn’t that great, but it is still freaking awesome. Max makes an appearance taking over the drums! Enjoy.
