To anyone left randomly checking this, I decided to give tumblr a whirl, since I can never remember to sign into the blog here. So, if you feel so inclined, check out http://candy4ears.tumblr.com/ and I'll try really super hard to post there more frequently than once every 3 months.
Cheers!
Day 3: A song that makes you happy.
Easy. Anything. And I mean ANYTHING by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros makes me immensely happy. And in honor of the Railroad Revival Tour that I get to go to thanks to an amazing friend of mine who helped me with the financial bit of getting me a seat on a plane, I give you "Janglin."
My least favorite song. How to pick?? I could go with the recent internet sensation "Friday," but that's too easy and too much fun to parody. I could go with an annoying autotuned 3 minutes of crap by T-Pain. But no, not enough hate. The song that fills me with hatred and fury is Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue." You know the one where he talks about lighting up country's sky like the 4th of July? The song of "my patriotism is better than yours because I'm talking about killing people in retaliation." If I ever meet Toby Keith, I will not hesitate to sucker punch him in the jaw and knee him in the balls for creating this piece of shit song. Fuck you Toby Keith.
I'm not even going to post the song because I don't want it to get more plays than it already has.
This might be incredibly lame, but as an effort to get me to post more frequently I'm going to try to do the 30 day song challenge that's been floating around some of my friends' facebook pages. I'll probably get annoyed with it halfway through, but whatever. Scouring my music collection for songs that fit the day's description will be a welcome break from the last round of finals I'll ever have. Thank god for graduation in 2 1/2 weeks! Anywho, lets get started.
Day 1: Favorite Song.
God dammit. Who knew I'd get annoyed with this on Day 1. Ha. "What's your favorite song?" always makes me mad because it's damn near impossible for me to pick my all time favorite song. But, after some thinking, I *think* "Visions of Johanna" by Bob Dylan is my favorite. It's either that or "Don't Think Twice (It's Alright)". But for now, I'm picking "Visions of Johanna". The amount that I love Dylan's Blonde on Blonde album is probably unhealthy, and "Visions" is my favorite track from it, so logically this would be my favorite, right? That's what I'm sticking to anyways.
mp3 - Visions of Johanna
Check back tomorrow for my least favorite song.
I love music. I go to a lot of concerts. This is my attempt at trying to remember all the great shows I went to in 2010, and the ones I'm looking forward to this spring. Here we go!
January 2010 started off with a bang when Kid Cudi came to town. Minus the onslaught of openers which lasted way too long it was a fantastic show. "Daps and Pounds," "Pursuit of Happiness," and "Day N Night" were most definitely the highlights from the show. Now that he's more mainstream, I'm sure it will be hard to get him in an intimate setting like the Michigan Theater again. January also brought the 33rd Folk Festival. Highlights were for sure Iron & Wine who played some of the most gorgeous music my ears had ever heard. Also, Richie Havens who is always superb (and I got to meet him again!), Rosanne Cash, Ben Gibbard & Jay Ferrar, and discovering the high energy folk/bluegrass band from Philly, Hoots & Hellmouth.
In March I got to see the AMAZING Avett Brothers, with the also awesome Low Anthem opening. If you ever have the chance to see the Avett Brothers, for the love of all that is holy GO SEE THEM. They're headlining the first night of this year's Folk Festival and I couldn't be more excited. I also caught the Low Anthem on their headlining tour that came through Ann Arbor. If you're not familiar with them, they make the most beautiful songs with some old and sometimes unconventional instruments (they featured a saw on one song). For sure check out their first two albums "What the Crow Brings" and "Oh My God, Charlie Darwin".
October was an absolutely fantastic month for music in Ann Arbor, it was too bad that my midterms coincided with some of the concerts so I sadly had to miss out on a few good ones. But I was still able to catch a lot and made my ears ridiculously happy. I was able to see one of my favorite bands from the last couple years when Ra Ra Riot came back to Ann Arbor to play the Blind Pig. I absolutely love them, and they always seem to put on a fantastic show (based on the 2 times I've seen them haha). I also was able to see Arlo Guthrie again at The Ark, as well as Joe Pug with Vandaveer opening. Vandaveer was probably my greatest discovery this year and I was completely obsessed for months after seeing them play. Joe Pug is another one of my favorite artists to see live. He's gotten much much better at performing since he was given a one song slot at the Folk Festival a few years ago. This time instead of playing by himself, he was backed up by a pedal steel and upright bass. The version of "Hymn 101" with the pedal steel accompaniment was mind blowing (mostly because I may or may not have been nursing a significant obsession with the pedal steel at the time) but still, it was a great show.
By far the absolute highlight of 2010 was seeing Bob Dylan play at Hill Auditorium October 28th. My mom and I splurged on great seats in the 11th row and were not disappointed at all. He was in a great mood and played straight through for almost 2 hours. He played many songs from his newer albums, but threw in some of my favorite tunes, including "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat," "Simple Twist of Fate," and the highlight for me was "Desolation Row." I was able to sneak into the front row for the encore and Bob and I totally had a moment where he looked right at me and smiled. Swoon. Hands down one of the best concerts I've ever been to.
Finally November and December brought The Weepies, Josh Ritter, and The Carolina Chocolate Drops to the area. I liked The Weepies well enough before seeing them in concert, but after seeing them play live, I'm completely enamored with them and hope they don't take another 4 year touring break. Josh Ritter was absolutely fantastic and adorable and had a huge grin throughout the whole show. I definitely will not be missing seeing him play again if he's playing anywhere close. The Carolina Chocolate Drops were totally amazing as well. You will not be disappointed by their show at all. In addition to hearing some great music you get little music history lessons in between songs that (if you're anything like me) will make you want to go spend hours at the record store looking through old jazz, bluegrass, and blues records. Other notable 2010 concerts included Abigail Washburn, Jackie Greene, and Ray Davies of The Kinks. I probably forgot some, but I can't remember where I packed all my ticket stub souvenirs. Sigh.
One of my most favorite times of the year happens at the end of every January: the Ann Arbor Folk Festival put on by The Ark. I start to get super excited about it generally in late October when the line-up starts to be announced starting with the main headliners and slowly filling out the bills with smaller more regional acts. The first night of the festival is generally full of artists who are expanding the traditional folk genre. Past Friday night acts have been Ben Folds, Jackie Greene, Jeff Tweedy, Rufus Wainwright, and Jay Ferrar & Ben Gibbard. While the Saturday night headliners are usually the classic folk and roots music pioneers. Pete Seeger, Kris Kristofferson, Richie Havens, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, and John Prine have all been recent Saturday night guests. You can read all about the history of the folk festival and see previous line-ups here.
The Ark began announcing the headliners last week, and I'm already getting anxious for January to be here. Headlining on Friday night is one of the best bands to see live, The Avett Brothers. Words cannot express how excited I am to be able to catch them live again. Also playing Friday will be Citizen Cope (I find it really odd that he's playing a folk festival, but maybe he's got some folkie gems hidden up his sleeve that I don't know about...) and local favorite Vienna Teng. Saturday night folk legend Judy Collins will play, along with Mavis Staples (!!!), and The Swell Season as the main headliner. I find it surprising that the main Saturday headlining spot didn't go to Mavis or Judy, but nevertheless I'm super excited to catch all three acts. There's also usually a "breakout" star of the festival, and I'm excited to see who that will be this year.
The countdown to January 28th, 2011 is on!
A couple weeks ago, I caught Joe Pug at The Ark here in Ann Arbor. I've seen him a handful of times now, and he just keeps getting better and better live. He's really matured in the last year or so since I've seen him, and I LOVE the band he's playing with. The upright bass and pedal steel really add another layer of depth to his songs. I'm holding out hope that he might record a version of "Hymn 101" with the pedal steel because it was amazing.
But this post shockingly isn't about him. It's about his opener, Vandaveer. I had heard a couple of their songs before, and liked them ok, but seeing them live was unreal. Vandaveer is Mark Heidinger's folk project that brings in Rose Guerin for some of the best damn harmonies I've ever heard. Heidinger's lyrics pull you in and Rose's vocal additions effectively nail you to your chair and don't let you move until your ears are the happiest they've been in a long time. I've listened to "Dig Down Deep" at least 100x since the show. Seriously check these guys out. They just finished up a tour supporting Joe Pug, and will hopefully be back on the road sometime soon.
Woolgathering - Vandaveer (mp3)
I was able to see Bob Dylan this past Thursday, and it was hands down one of the best shows I've ever seen. He played straight through for almost two hours, the band was tight, and it seemed like he was having an absolute blast on stage. I have a pretty sizeable obsession with Mr. Dylan, and had seen him live three times before, but this concert blew those out of the water.
Many people say Dylan should put a stop to his "Never Ending Tour" citing poor vocals and the reworking of his classics. Those people couldn't be more wrong. Sure, his voice has changed over the years but when he's on his game there's nothing like it. And to those who get upset about the reconstructing of some of his classics, I say shut the hell up. The man's been touring for 40+ years, he's allowed to do things differently. I'd get bored as hell playing the same songs the same way for that long. Stumbling through various reviews, I read something that pretty much sums it up. "Everybody struggles to make sense of Dylan, and all the while Dylan is stuck trying to make sense of all of us." Word.
He opened with a great rendition of "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat" moved onto "Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)". What a great way to start! Other highlights of the setlist include an awesome "Simple Twist of Fate," "Desolation Row," "High Water (For Charlie Patton)" and "Ballad of a Thin Man." I was able to sneak into the front row for the encore of "Jolene" and "Like a Rolling Stone" and seeing Bob up close was probably one of the greatest moments of my entire life. He was smiling the whole time, and I'm convinced we shared a moment when he looked right at me and smiled. Swoon. Three days later and I still haven't come down from the high. Here's hoping he continues the Never Ending Tour for years to come.
Wooo. I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything but just wanted to take a quick study break and post a couple songs that I've recently acquired that I'm loving right now. First up is off of Justin Townes Earle's fantastic new album Harlem River Blues. This album is in my constant rotation, and I was really looking forward to catching him live next month, but it seems that he ran into a sticky situation in Indy and has suspended the rest of his tour (more on this here). But I wish him a speedy recovery and can't wait for him to be back on the road making people's ears happy. Definitely check out the album if you haven't already done so.
One More Night in Brooklyn - Justin Townes Earle
And the other track is off of Ra Ra Riot's new album The Orchard. I know I'm way late on the blog hype with this but whatever. I love Ra Ra Riot, I love the new album, and I can't wait to catch them when they're in Michigan in a couple weeks. Enjoy!
Boy - Ra Ra Riot
Well, that's it for now. But I'm sure I'll update again sometime soonish. October is looking to be an awesome month for concert-going. I've got Broken Social Scene, Ra Ra Riot, AA Bondy and The Walkmen, Joe Pug, Arlo Guthrie, Dr. Dog, and the one and only Bob Dylan on my radar so here's hoping school doesn't get in the way of my music enjoyment!
It seems I discovered him about 4 days too late. Influential Namibian musician Jackson Kaujeua passed away from kidney failure on May 27. I literally just discovered his music an hour ago, and it's very hard to find his songs online, so this weekend I plan on picking up an album or two at the music store here in town. Until I can get my hands on full songs, here's one of his songs on Youtube, "Kalahari." For a little more information about him, here's an article in The Namibian:
UPDATE: found a better video that has a compilation of a bunch of his songs...check it out!
Oh boy. Do I ever need some good tunes. I'm currently in Namibia on an internship for grad school, and though it is totally awesome here, my ears are certainly paying a price. I am forever being bombarded by Celine Dion, Richard Marx, and Justin Bieber while I'm at the office working. It's usually the same 10 songs just repeated for 6 hours. I usually can't wait until I get home and can open my computer and play something that doesn't make my ears bleed. Glad I was able to snag Josh Ritter's FANTASTIC new album before I left, but in my haste (aka leaving EVERYTHING to the last minutes before I left the US) I didn't get a chance to grab the seemingly 4000 other new albums that came out in the last month or two (not to mention the ones being released in June). Now I'm left feeling like a junkie who just doesn't have the money for a fix. Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but internet is so painfully slow it takes 20 minutes to download one song! Ack!
My aim while I'm in Namibia is to check out the local music scene and hopefully post some updates on what music (besides terrible terrible American pop) people are digging here. So stay tuned...hopefully I'll make some good finds! For now, enjoy a song off Ritter's new album. The whole thing is completely amazing, and if for some crazy reason you haven't bought it yet, do it NOW!
Another New World - Josh Ritter
Ok folks, I'm going to be doing an insane amount of traveling this summer. I'm spending most of the summer in Namibia (and possibly some time in Kenya) for my internship, and that equals DAYS spent on planes, trains, cars, and buses. I need your help in compiling the ultimate travel playlist (or playlists).
What are your favorite tunes to keep you sane when traveling? Comment here, email me, respond via twitter (@candy4ears), shout on last.fm (kari8306), whatever you choose. You have 2 months....ready GO!
If anyone out there is still reading/following, I apologize for the lack of posts. The past few months have been a gigantic ball of stress and calling them an emotional roller coaster would be an understatement. It was mostly due to school, but now that I've nailed down an internship for the summer (and it's FUNDED!), I'm a much happier person. But enough about me, here's what's been keeping me happy and what I'm looking forward to:
The FOLK FESTIVAL. I never officially wrote a response. Well, it was BALLER. Even though Doc Watson couldn't make it (reason number 32849287234 to hate winter), it was still an amazing two nights of music. This year, like last, had a seemingly breakout crowd favorite, Hoots and Hellmouth. They were asked to come play the second night after Doc Watson cancelled and rocked out hard. I'm really looking forward to when they come back to Ann Arbor next month. Iron & Wine was mesmerizing the first night, and Richie Havens was wonderful the second night. Props to Rosanne Cash who "headlined" the second night, but I wish it was Richie. I could listen to him for hours and hours.
I got to catch The Avett Brothers in concert last week, and it was unbelievable. They are totally 100% awesome live. I had a bunch of their albums prior to the show and liked them ok, but holy shit. I've been listening to their music pretty much nonstop since the show. If they are playing anywhere near you (like 3 hour travel time radius) GO SEE THEM!!! The Low Anthem opened and they were great too. I'm probably going to see them on their headline tour in a couple weeks, so I'll try and get a more in depth review up for them then.
Slight Figure of Speech - mp3
And last little bit for this post, I FINALLY got Vampire Weekend's new album, Contra, last week and I like it a lot. I think I like it better than their debut. You can totally hear the Graceland undertones, but whatever. It's catchy and it makes me happy. And that's all that really matters. :)
Diplomat's Son-mp3
Quick note about what I'm excited about:
It's here! It's here! It's here! Folk Festival weekend is finally here! The Ann Arbor Folk Festival is one of my favorite times of the year. For those who aren't familiar, The A2 Folk Fest is basically a giant fundraiser for The Ark which is this awesome super small and cozy music venue that showcases folk and roots music. The Ark is one of my absolute favorite places to see live music. Not a bad seat in the house, the hallways are lined with photos of artists (both legendary and up and coming) who've played there, and the dressing room walls are covered in their signatures. If you're ever in the Ann Arbor area, you definitely have to catch a concert there.
This is th
e 33rd year that they've put on the festival. It's a two night festival, with the first night focusing on the "new direction" of folk and roots music, and the second night brings in musicians playing more traditional folk and roots. Since I've been back in the area, I've had the awesome opportunity to volunteer for The Ark, which means I get to work the festival and see the concerts for free. Best. Gig. EVER.
This year they've got Jay Farrar with Ben Gibbard, and Iron & Wine headlining the first night. Rosanne Cash, Richie Havens, and Doc Watson are headlining the second night. Those are some damn good headliners if I do say myself. But one of the great things about the Folk Festival is they showcase lesser known acts throughout the nights as well. That's how I discovered my absolute favorite artist of the past year, Joe Pug (I've since seen him three more times live and can't wait until his first full length album comes out next month). I'm hoping I can make a similar discovery or two this year. Check out the full line-up here.
So, as a preview, here is some music by the artists featured this year. Brace yourself for some post-concert gushing about how awesome it was...
He is going to be awesome to see live. True story.
All Along The Watchtower - Richie Havens
LOVE seeing him live. I could listen to him play and tell his stories for forever.
Hickory - Iron & Wine
CANNOT WAIT to see him.
Sea of Heartbreak - Rosanne Cash w/ Bruce Springsteen
I honestly don't know a lot of her music but I really love her album, The List, and I feel like it'll almost be like seeing her dad right? ;)
Love it. It will be neat to have seen both main members of Uncle Tupelo at back to back festivals (Tweedy headlined last year)
Of the non-headliners, I'm most excited to see this band. I've gotten a few recommendations to check them out, but keep forgetting so yay for Folk Fest for giving me that chance. haha.
Whew. It's going to be a busy but crazy awesome couple of days.
I'll be honest. Aside from the epic treadmill video a few years ago, I don't really follow the band OK Go. I had no idea they released a new album recently. And I had no idea they released a new video. And surprise surprise, it's actually really really catchy. Their label won't allow embedding from YouTube (lame) but I was able to track it down on Vimeo. Head on over to their site to get the marching band version of the song for free (and to check out their new album, upcoming shows, etc.).
OK Go - This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.
Kid Cudi took a break from touring with Lady GaGa recently and made a stop in Ann Arbor. I was beside myself when I saw he was coming to town. He didn't disappoint at all. Though the barrage of opening acts almost made me go crazy...minus local rap legend One Be Lo...Kid Cudi was fantastic. The strobe light extravaganza blew my mind. The segue into Day N Night was amazing. I thought he was gonna do the remix version, but he broke it down into the slow burner that I love. The acapella "Daps and Pounds" was fantastic, and "Pursuit of Happiness" was pretty much perfect. DEFINITELY see this kid if he's performing in your area. He puts on one hell of a show.
Not the best quality but here's him performing Day N Night...trust it was amazing live...
Pursuit of Happiness
I also want to plug for local rapper One Be Lo. Not too many people paid any attention to his opening act, which is too too bad. It should have just been him and Kid Cudi. Def check him out. He was half of Binary Star, and has released three albums on his own label, Subterraneous Records. Def check out his album, S.O.N.O.G.R.A.M. It's time that he hit the national stage. He's way past due to be a breakthough star.
Evil Of Self
Let me just start out by saying that I love me some folk music. Give me a song with an acoustic guitar and some make you think type lyrics and I'm pretty much in heaven. So imagine my delight when I came across The Tallest Man on Earth (aka Kristian Matsson). He's got Dylan written all over him, which is probably subconsciously why I love him so much. After getting his album, Shallow Grave, and loving it, I came across his Daytrotter session and fell in love some more. His stripped down piano version of "I Won't Be Found" is absolutely gorgeous. He's got a great series of videos on youtube of him playing songs to a sunset (sigh...). Now he just needs to do another tour in the US so I can see him live.
2009.09.09 Tallest Man on Earth, Bardens Boudoir (Honey, Let Me in) from Tim Ferguson on Vimeo.
Blind Pilot is a great band. I had the opportunity to see them live earlier this month when they played in Ann Arbor. I had their single "Go On, Say It" from a sampler CD, and I really liked it, and since I was volunteering at the venue, I didn't have to buy a ticket so I couldn't possibly lose in this situation...free live music, can't get much better than that. And I can honestly say I was not disappointed at all. Blind Pilot put on a great show. Their music is kinda low key, but apparently they've got some more upbeat songs up their sleeve that they just haven't released yet (see "We Are the Tide"). I was so impressed that I bought their CD, 3 Rounds and a Sound, from the merch table and it's seriously been playing non-stop since. Favorites include "The Bitter End," "Oviedo," and "One Red Thread," but all the tracks are pretty solid.
They do cool things too, like do bike tours down the west coast. Badass. You should buy their album and see them when they play in your area.
Bitter End
We Are The Tide
Go On, Say It
Holy wow. I was completely unprepared for how much damn time grad school was going to take up. To the people who are still awesome and sending me music to check out, thank you!! I really promise I'm not ignoring you, it's just that classes like Principles of Chemical Hazards and Biostats have completely taken over my life....sigh...
BUT I've decided in order to keep my sanity I need music breaks. It's amazing how much better I feel after spending an hour or so poking around online for music and/or strumming out some tunes on my guitar. So, I'm bringing the blog back. I have to find some better file hosting sites, but be on the lookout for some new posts in the very near future. I've gotten to go to some pretty awesome shows in the last month and have some good ones coming up so I've got lots to say! In the meantime check out the new video from one of my absolute FAVORITE groups of the last few months, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros....If you haven't purchased their album, DO IT NOW! Seriously. It's def one of my faves of the past year.
Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros "KISSES OVER BABYLON" from Edward Sharpe on Vimeo.
I'm still obsessively listening to the Monsters of Folk album that came out yesterday, so no review just yet. BUT the guys were on The Tonight Show last night. And judging by what I've heard on the album so far and by watching their performance, I'm going to try my damnedest to catch one of their live shows. Check it out:
This video and song is pretty awesome too. Go buy their album now.
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