2011 - The Year in Photos

Fan's dragon fly at Flaming Lips show, Sasquatch Music Festival in Memorial Day weekend.

It's no secret that I take a lot of pictures. What's becoming less of a secret, though, is that I'm becoming less bad at it.

Having spent so long as a photo editor, I'm naturally a bit more critical of photographs -- and especially my own. But thanks to lens upgrades (purchasing a 50mm prime, renting a 70-200mm) and software (Lightroom, Picknik), I'm getting awfully close to taking photos that I can hang a hat on (and I have a lot of hats, so...).

Anyway, here's some of my favorites from a great year of live music (note: In the Summer Bonfire series collage, half taken on Samsung Focus mobile phone.)

Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters, Sasquatch Music Festival -- Memorial Day weekend.

TP flies over the Gorge in celebration of Black Joe Lewis at Sasquatch Music Festival -- Memorial Day weekend.

Robyn @ Sasquatch -- Memorial Day weekend.

Thurston Moore @ Capitol Hill Block Party -- July.

Les Savy Fav - AKA Tim Harrington's Wild Ride at Capitol Hill Block Party, July.

The Posies' Jon & Ken catching air at Capitol Hill Block Party -- July.

Mastodon opens for Soundgarden @ the Gorge, July.

Champagne Champagne at Doe Bay Fest -- August.

Pickwick gets some spiritual back up during "Hacienda Hotel" at Doe Bay Fest, August.

Tyler Williams (The Head & the Heart) lends a shovel to Kelli Schafer @ Doe Bay Fest, August.

Artist Home's Summer Bonfire Series -- All summer.

Mavis Staples summons a higher power at Bumbershoot, September.

Minus the Bear guitarist Dave Knudson at Bumbershoot, September.

Kaylee Cole in the spotlight at Bumbershoot, September.

Phantogram's Sarah Barthel illuminated at Bumbershoot, September.

Charles Bradley spreads the love around at Bumbershoot, September.

Previously: Favorite photos of 2009, if you don't mind looking through photos of my kids, you can find most my shots over at my Flickr site.

CHBP 2011 - Day One

Recap and photos from the first day from the 2011 edition of Capitol Hill Block Party is now up and running over at Bumpershine, featuring Thurston Moore (pictured), Cults, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, The Fresh & Onlys, Kurt Vile and Fucked Up.

Thanks to most the action being in the dimly lit (or, at times, not lit at all) Nuemos, this day did not inspire so much on the photograph front. Days 2 & 3 have a few fun surprises, though, so look for that in the coming days.

Now Downloading: New Releases 05.24.11

Heading into the holiday (re: Sasquatch!) weekend, this week's crop may not have much for year end lists, but it's still deep in worthy releases. Of note are the latest from David Bazan, White Denim, Art Brut, Sonic Youth, Joseph Arthur, Foster the People, Nat Baldwin, The Men, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Dead Can Dance's Brendan Perry and two, count 'em two releases from drone metal purveyors Boris.

Playlist: New Releases 05.24.11

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David Bazan - Strange Negotiations
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

When David Bazan debuted as a solo artist with Curse Your Branches, it signaled a change in sound from his days of Pedro the Lion. The struggles with faith were still there, but the sound was a more classic singer/songwriter acoustic-based joint. With Strange Negotiations, his second solo full-length, Bazan has brought back the full band sound of Pedro the Lion while perhaps dialing back on the faith struggles -- or, at the very least it's just less overt. It's a solid release all the way through, even if it's hard to pinpoint a highlight.

Free AOL Album Stream

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White Denim - D
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

After recording their last album quickly (and releasing it for free -- the spontaneous Last Day of Summer) D sounds more like a labor of love. Austin's White Denim added a fourth member (appropriately named Austin) and the dual guitar attack compliments the amazing rhythm section nicely on D. While they often veer dangerously into noodle/jam band territory, the King Crimson progressions and Jethro Tull flute solos from left field make it more a 70s AOR kitchen sink love affair. Key party, anyone?

Free AOL Album Stream
Download: "Drug" [mp3]

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Art Brut - Brilliant! Tragic!
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

After two attempts at trying to recapture the magic of their debut, Eddie Argos & co. take baby steps into new territory with Brilliant! Tragic!. Back behind the glass is Charles Thompson aka Frank Black aka Black Francis, and besides punching up the band's sound, he's got Argos singing (!) and Ian Catskilkin playing extended guitar solos ("but only on two strings" assures Argos, and if so, then on "Axl Rose" he must have burned through several of those 'two strings'). If treated as a transition album, this could be an album to look back on with elevated interest, but in and of itself, it's at best a mixed bag. Highlights include the aforementioned controlled chaos of "Axl Rose" and "Lost Weekend."

"Lost Weekend" [mp3] (via The Hype Machine)

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Thurston Moore - Demolished Thoughts
Stream / Purchase [mp3]

When it became known that Thurston Moore was recording a mostly acoustic album with Beck producing, there had to be more than a few heads exploding. A mostly accessible album of folkish ruminations is about as out of left field as you'll get from Moore, who's 30 + years of experimentation with guitar nearly has him pigeon-holed (as someone who is hard to pigeon hole, of course). Demolished Thoughts (which is also the name of his side project with J Mascis and others), has Moore on either 6- or 12-string acoustics throughout, complete with Beck supervised orchestral backing here and there, but it'd still be mistake to call it folk. Take one of the album's highlight's "Circulation," which extolls the virtue of vinyl in the most hauntingly beautiful (and dissonant!) of fashions. But I might be biased. I named my dog after the man (and, coincidentally enough, it's furry Thurston's 11th birthday this week. Raise a paw, y'all!).

"Benediction" [mp3]
"Circulation" [mp3]

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More on the radar (and in the mp3 player) this week:
Boris - Attention Please / Free AOL Album Stream
Boris - Heavy Rocks / Free AOL Album Stream
Foster the People - Torches / Free AOL Album Stream
Joseph Arthur - The Graduation Ceremony
Battles - Ice Cream (Single/EP)
Darwin Deez - Darwin Deez
Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat - Everything's Getting Older
Nat Baldwin - People Changes
Friendly Fires - Pala / Free AOL Album Stream
Brendan Perry - Ark
Amon Tobin - Isam
The Men - Leave Home
Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside - Dirty Radio
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins - Diamond Mine
Ear Pwr - Ear Pwr / Free AOL Album Stream
Bird of Youth - Defender / "Used to Be" [mp3]
Dear Lions - Dear Lions / Free AOL Album Stream
Motopony - Tenth Life / Free AOL Album Stream
Ash Black Bufflo - Andasol
She Wants Revenge - Valleyheart
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
Kate Bush - Director's Cut
The Hangover, Pt II: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

REISSUES
Love - Forever Changes (Expanded and Remastered)
Holly Golightly & Dan Melchior - Desperate Little Town

tags: music, album review, david bazan, white denim, art brut, indie rock, new releases

Now Downloading: New Releases 09.18.07

You'll have to forgive the tardiness (and sloppiness) this week. I've been on an offsite since this weekend discussing process (and drinking,) and haven't been on a computer or listening to new music. This week's releases feature Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Rogue Wave, Hard-Fi and Les Savy Fav. The last is the most intriguing, but it's the first two that interest me right now, and they're both highlighted by the guitar of Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis.

Playlist: New Releases 09.18.07

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Album: Broken Social Scene Presents: Kevin Drew - Spirit If...

While the artist name here is a mouthful, it's kind of necessary, speaking to the delicate balance achieved with Spirit If... between Kevin Drew solo and the full collective BSS. It started out as just playing between Drew and a couple BSS'ers, and then evolved into a solo project, and then finally retreating a bit to really being neither. Sounds confusing, doesn't it? Just know that Drew dominates the album, but there are songs that he didn't write or sing on the album ("Big Love" and "Bodhi Sappy Weekend," for example,) that could really only be called BSS. It's a beautiful album full of heartbreaking moments of sound and joy, and features some Drew's heroes making cameos. On "Lucky Ones," one of the albums many highlights, Scott Kannberg (Spiral Stairs of Pavement, Preston School of Industry) lends his indie rock guitar chops to what might just be my favorite BSS-related song. Then, later on the album, Kevin Drew channels Dinosaur Jr quite literally, with J Mascis both shredding guitar solos and lending his voice to the song. Other highlights include the fragile "tbtf (too beautiful to f*ck)" and "Safety Bricks." It's been an amazing year for BSSers (Feist, Emily Haines, Apostle of Hustle) and this only adds to their growing legend. I think it's going to be hard to knock this out of my heavy rotation for a long time.

Free album stream from AOL

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Album: Thurston - Trees Outside the Academy

Thurston Moore has always been a favorite in our household, one of our dogs is even named after him. That he drops his last name for this release aligns him even closer to my dog, and the warm friendly sounds that Trees Outside the Academy contains is not far from petting the furry beast on my lap. Trees was recorded at J Mascis' Bisquiteen studio with John Agnello, and has Mascis restrained guitar leads alongside violinist Samara Lubelski's haunting counter-melodies. Trees is the logical extension to the (dare I say it) mature songwriting SY's Rather Ripped, relying less on noise and more on traditional songwriting. Song highlights include "Honest James" (featuring Charalambides' Christina Carter singing duet,) and the extroverted "Fri/End", but the track that needs to be heard is the hidden one at the end called "Thurston@13," which is the 13-year old Moore experimenting with sounds in his bedroom. The mix of a curiosity for sound and a self-questioning thespian has apparently alway been there: "What you have heard is me wasting time again, asking myself deep inside, why the f*ck I am doing this?"

Free album stream from AOL

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More going (or already in) the Sansa
Les Savy Fav - Let's Stay Friends (Free album stream from AOL)
Hard-Fi - Once Upon A Time In The West (Free album stream from AOL)
Rogue Wave - Asleep At Heaven's Gate (Free album stream from AOL)
LCD Soundsystem - A Bunch Of Stuff EP
Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild -Music For The Motion Picture (Free album stream from AOL)
The Chesterfield Kings - Psychedelic Sunrise
The Donnas - Bitchin'
Myracle Brah - Can You Hear the Myracle Brah?
Cindy Lee Berryhill - Beloved Stranger
Ben Lee - Ripe (Free album stream from AOL)
The Polyphonic Spree - Live From Austin, TX
Th' Legendary Shack*Shakers - Swampblood
Motion City Soundtrack - Even If It Kills Me (Free album stream from AOL)
Mark Knopfler - Kill To Get Crimson
KT Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic (Free album stream from AOL)

tags: music, album review, thurston moore, the go team, kevin drew, bss, les savy fav, indie rock, new releases, rhapsody