100 Shows of 2010 - #88: The Dandy Warhols/Hopewell @ Ram's Head Live, 11/9/10

Over the course of this whole 100 shows undertaking I've tried rather hard not to double up on bands. I wanted to experience and cover as many different bands as humanly possible. But sometimes, well, I just can't resist. And who am I to turn down an invitation to what I already knew would be an amazing show? I'll tell you what, darlings, as good as the show was up there in Philly, this here Baltimore show blew it out of the water. So pardon me while I lather on for days about the excellence of this Dandy Warhols and Hopewell show, because it was fantastic with a capital fantastic.

MINI RECAP: Hopewell = Keeping Hope Alive! Dandy Warhols = Dandy As Candy! Overall Score: A

At first, Ram's Head Live seemed a strange, strange place for this show to take place. It's in this kind of surreal part of Baltimore, down by the Inner Harbor, that feels more like a Disney-fied Vegas than a place for indie bands of all shapes and sizes. But after this show, I don't know if it could have happened at any other venue in any other city. It was nothing short of one of a kind.

Up first, Hopewell. With the added atmosphere of some burning incense, they were immediately epic, just as they were in Philly and just as I would expect. The setlist was a carbon copy of the Electric Factory show, and yet everything sounded just a shade better here, a sentiment I extend not only to the bands but the crowd as well. The primal screaming that is "Over The Mountain" was more intense, the ferocity of "Trumpet For A Lung" more biting. Vocalist Jason Russo's smile, too, that emerges at times during certain notes of certain songs, seemed just a touch wider. In "Trumpet For A Lung", the soft glimpses of delicacy amidst the chaotic storm und drang of the murderous mess sounded quite possibly more glorious than I've ever heard. "We're working for you," sayeth Russo before the band ripped "Calcutta" to beautiful shreds for their final number. Their set was powerful, captivating, and pretty dang breathtaking. This, friends, if you haven't yet picked up on it, is a band you need to experience for yourselves. They'll show you darkness and they'll show you rays of blinding sunlight, and you'll love it all.

And speaking of loving it all, here come those Dandy Warhols. As with Hopewell, they too were infinitely more stupendous in Baltimore. They all also seemed in better humor than a couple of nights previous. Or perhaps, to quoth main Dandys man Courtney Taylor, they were feeling "zesty." I couldn't stop grinning the entire set, every song was a gem. Who doesn't love the breathy, stalker-lite vocals of the creepy "I Love You"? Or the bittersweet "The Last High"? Or the way Taylor can exude an air of total and utter indifference, in my mind second only to the foxy apathy of Blur's Alex James in the Britpop era? "Here's a zesty one for you," Taylor announced, before the band took on their biggun, "Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth". The back-to-back-to-back shimmy shake of "Shakin'" and "Horse Pills" and "Solid" got my motor running something fierce, and made me remember just how good a record Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia is. Buy it, y'all, unless of course you already know what's up.

During an impeccable rendition of "Boys Better" it hit me that Pete Holmstrom is an amazing, amazing guitarist. And it wasn't just because he can do the ole Pete Townshend windmill move to perfection. This man can straight up shred. He's got fancy guitars and works every one of them with immeasurable skill. "Good Morning" was flawless, the magic spell of fuzz winding and twisting me into a waking dream. Another treat was hearing the not at all oft-played "Cool As Kim Deal", another old school favorite of mine. While Zia McCabe and Brent "Fathead" DeBoer were gettin their bathroom on, Courtney strummed an acoustic version of "Every Day Should Be A Holiday", featuring a pretty fine singalong by we crowdspeople that put quite a smile on the face of Mr. Taylor-Taylor. Their 21-song salute of a set ended with "Country Leaver", which, if they had to stop playing, was a good way to go out. Sure, I would have loved to hear "Godless", or "Be-In", or "Hard-On For Jesus", but I can't fault what was played. Maybe next time they'll play for three hours instead of two...now there's an idea.

You would think that two brilliant sets by two incomparable bands would have been enough to call it a dandy of a night, but no, it somehow got better. Drinking next door at Mex well after the show ended, another treat was in store. Imagine, friends, an impromptu performance with sassy lass Zia on vocals (and shimmying), Courtney on drums, and Ralphie (host of the evening at Mex) on guitar. It was all rather silly, even before Brent took over guitar duties and a belligerently large man had to be dragged off the tiny stage by several Mex folks. But then, randomly, came Dick Valentine, of Electric Six fame. Don't ask me how, don't ask me why, but the cover of Def Leppard's "Hysteria" that this misfit band cooked up was fantastic. Driving home I asked myself if all that actually happened, and smiled when I could answer myself that yes, indeed it did. It was the only appropriate way to end the night, really.

The Dandy Warhols + Hopewell = guaranteed good goddam time. End of story.

mp3: Calcutta (Hopewell from Birds Of Appetite)

mp3: Genius (The Dandy Warhols from ...Rule OK)

Singles Club: Wishery by Pogo

Regular readers (and hopeful submitters) should know by now that if you've got anything that samples Star Wars, Disney or anything else that speaks to my infantile nature, odds are pretty damn good i'm going to post it. Which is all the more reason why i'm so disappointed i hadn't heard of Pogo until just recently.

If you, too, are in the dark, Pogo is a genius beat master who takes delight in ripping and flipping from some of your favorite kiddie flicks, with a particular nod towards the works of Walt and his successors. The Australian DJ apparently had some kind of contract with the big eared corporation which just ran out a few days ago. Fortunately for us, he used the opportunity to tear up some Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for your blunted and beated pleasure. Seeing as the video has more than 1.2 million hits in a week, i think you'll agree it's the latest meme with the mostest. Most importantly for our purposes, however, that sumbitch grooves.

mp3: Wishery (Pogo from His Website)

While Pogo has a boatload of tunes up at his website available for download, i'll be damned if i could get any of them to play in my iTunes. Fortunately, he's got back-up over at last.fm. Go here for a few albums worth of additional tunes. For example...

mp3: Anna (Pogo from Table Scraps)

mp3: Alice (Pogo from Wonderland)

Predominately Blunted Beats

Today, we're focusing on a bunch of beat music that's found it's way into my grimy little hands of late. It's no secret i love this stuff. i only wish DC had its own Low End Theory (sorry, 18th Street Lounge, but you ain't it) or similar beat scene. Oh well, at least we have the Interwebs giving us sorts of goodness from around the globe.

Baths' Cerulean is easily in my top ten albums for 2010. This 21-year-old electronic music maestro tears it up on this one, combining glitchy electro with an assortment of found and created sounds that makes a pastiche of creamy goodness. Though he dropped the CD a while back, he just released another single, "Lovely Bloodflow," for our free listening pleasure. Better yet, it's one of the best tracks on the CD, adding some haunting vocals to the click clack. Not for the faint of funk. (Ed. note: today's post is entitled "Predominately Blunted Beats" because we don't want to piss off young Baths any more than Pitchfork did recently by assuming he's a poth ead.)

mp3: Lovely Bloodflow (Baths from Cerulean)

A top notch jazz prodigy pianist and one of Brainfeeder's finest jamming together? Um, yes, please. Austin Peralta tears it up with Strangeloop from this set recorded at the Roy O. Disney Theatre Performance at CalArts on July 22, 2010.

mp3: Roy O. Disney Theatre Performance (Austin Peralta and Strangeloop from Live at CalArts- 7.20.2010)

Thanks once again to the majesty of random Hype Machine surfing, i stumbled upon yet another genius beat producer in the making, Shigeto. The currently Brooklyn-based DJ just dropped a new EP, full of ghostly machinations and otherworldly beats. While everyone who is anyone on the beat scene seems to be coming out of L.A. or London these days, Shigeto looks to even the score for those of us who find ourselves on the East Coast without a champion of our own these days. i'm telling you, keep an eye on this kid.

mp3: After the Smoke (Shigeto from What We Held On To EP)

mp3: Bitter Sweet (Shigeto from What We Held On To EP)

Thanks to the stellar article in XLR8R, i recently stumbled upon the website for the We Did It Collective, home to such geniuses as Shlomo, Jonwayne and others. As luck would have it, they tend to post a lot of tracks, many of which are free. i've stumbled across a few definitely worth sharing. One up is from an artist i believe named Chris Adams, though the accompanying text for his new EP is sparse, to say the least. It does explain that he used no synthesized sounds, recording all the noises used himself. All i know is it sounds good, and he looks suspiciously like a guy who used to deal me pot. They've also recently hosted a crazy mix by Jonwayne, definitely worth the download. While most of the We Did It stuff is beat-centric, they've also had some dope ass rhymes by 0. Anyone who can rhyme "cunnilingus" and "dingus" in the same verse is A-OK in my book, children. At the risk of giving away a source of endlessly good shit, bookmark their site, peeps.

mp3: CricketsandDolphins (Chris Adams from IAmYouAsMeMyFriend)

mp3: Paranoia Mix (Jonwayne from the We Did It Collective Website)

mp3: cloudlevel (0. from We Did It Collective Website)

More Mixtape Madness

Obviously, the greatest mixtapes you're ever going to hear are put together here at LET, but it would be unfair of us not to give credit where credit is due when we come across winners from others (second place is respectable, too, folks, so good on ya', mate!).

While LET probably is never going to be your definitive source for outside mixtapes, you know we're going to hip you to the good stuff.

Believe it or not, Tri Angle Records has just dropped a Lindsay Lohan inspired mix. In their own words:

"Inspired in part by Lindsay Lohan’s grotesquely fascinating black hole existence and in part by my unwavering belief in the power of pop music as an artform, I saw an opportunity to create something interesting with her music, and decided to ask some friends to reinterpret some of Lindsay’s songs. 'Tri Angle Records Presents: Let Me Shine for You' is the result. Even though we are all fond of Lindsay in our own ways, there is no FREE LINDSAY agenda here. We all love pop music and this is merely an experiment. All of our intentions are very sincere."

While this simply could have been a joke, the tracks are surprisingly good. It certainly doesn't hurt that some top notch talent was assembled to add tracks. Think somewhere between drone and chill, but without wearing its panties in the limo while people stand around taking cellphone pictures.

mp3: I Can Try to Run (Stuck) (Babe Rainbow from Tri Angle Records presents: Let Me Shine For You)

mp3: Something I Never Had (Laurel Halo from Tri Angle Records presents: Let Me Shine For You)

While we've posted tracks sponsored by Red Bull before, clearly i was uninformed on just how into the music scene your favorite vodka mixer actually is. Seems that since 1998, they've been sponsoring a traveling music academy. Essentially, they set up an HQ for two fortnight-long terms in a different musical metropolis each year, pulling "together pioneers of days-gone-by and musical legends of tomorrow from all aspects of rhythm and sound." This years' 60 participants set up shop in London, resulting in a pretty damn kick ass 41-track mixtape, bringing together some of the biggest names in instrumental electronic music. Seriously, TokiMONSTA and Oddisee on the same track? Do not pass go without picking up this bad boy. Be forewarned, however, at least i had a bitch of a time extracting the files from the zip. With that in mind, here are a couple of tracks to prove it's worth the effort of figuring it out yourself.

mp3: River Song (J-Wow & Sui Zhen from Various Assets - Not For Sale - London 2010)

mp3: Jackin4beats pt. 4 (TokiMONSTA feat. Andreya Triana & Oddisee from Various Assets - Not For Sale - London 2010)

i've inadvertently been sitting on a mixtape from Alex Ludovico for so long now that's he's since put out another one. You might recognize AL from various mixes we've put together ourselves, but his own stuff tends to be pretty damn good by itself. Homeboy spits fiyah and tends to kick it over dope beats. Expect to hear more about and from this up and comer.

mp3: d.o.a. (Alex Ludovico from Winning/Losing)

And finally, we recently received an interesting, homemade mixtape coming in at a handful of tracks at under ten minutes. As fans of the DIY ethic, here's a nod of the cap to Alex Gladwell. Sure, the production is a bit rough, but we all have to start somewhere. Plus, i'm pretty much a sucker for any beat that heavily samples Disney. Snow White in the house, y'all!

mp3: Childhood (Alex Gladwell from For the Mixtape)

100 Shows of 2010 - #16: Inter Arma @ The Triple, 4/14/10

Sometimes, friends, I need to have my brain melted into oblivion, my ears mashed into a bloody pulp, and my innards shaken and shook and nigh on ripped out. At such times, I turn to my old Richmond friends, Inter Arma. And they rarely disappoint (ok, there was that one time, buuuuuuut that's only cuz I managed to miss them play).

MINI RECAP: Inter Arma = Obliterationtastic! Overall Score: A.

Sure, I'm a gal that loves her some roadtrips, especially when bands are involved. But these days, there aren't all that many bands that can induce me to hit the road (ah, budgetary restraints). Inter Arma, even though I've seen 'em several times before while a Richmond resident, still has the power to make me hop in my car and make the angst-filled drive down to Richmond. I just can't get enough of their insanely, painfully, pulvarizingly loud mess. And I'm not even really into metal! Go figure.

The Triple was, not at all surprisingly, heaving when the band began to play. And as they spewed forth their ferocious, aggressive, full-throttle noise, the crowd stood, enthralled, hanging on every big ole bastard of a note. They absolutely killed their set, butchered it, hung, drew, and quartered it. They are so not my usual type of band, but damned if I don't love 'em (though my eardrums kinda hate them just a little).

With an Inter Arma show, you're always gonna leave happy. Even when your ears are ringing so loudly that everyone you talk to sounds like a Disney mouse, you're totally thrilled with what you've just witnessed. This, my dears, is rock on an epic, epic scale. Everything about them is, well, turned to 11. They are louder than most bands I've seen live. They are better musicians than plenty of bands I've seen live. They are showmen. They're just straight up goddam good at playing metal. They will tear asunder your insides, and you will love it. Guaranteed. There's no shortage of metal bands in Richmond, but I'd pretty much say that Inter Arma has staked claim on being, if not the best, one of the best. Absolutely no question about it.

mp3: Epicenter (Inter Arma from their upcoming Forcefield release Sundown)

The Greatest 420 You Will Ever Hear Today, Part the Second

Well, if you're checking out this mix, you're either hell baked by now or on your way towards that destination. And to you, girls and boys, who have stuck with this habit, through good times and bad, through sticky buds and ditch weed duds, through dank and skank, your Uncle Terrible salutes you. For the rest of you, don't step on the grass, Sam. For the rest of us, let's go get stoned.

mp3: Five Hundred An Ounce (Reefer from Reefer)

mp3: Funny Cigarette (Asylum Street Spankers from Spanks for the Memories)

mp3: Virgin Girl (Smash Mouth from Half-Baked Soundtrack)

mp3: Cheeba Cheeba (Tone Lōc from Loc-ed After Dark)

mp3: Could I Buy Some Pot From You? (Pinto from Animal House)

mp3: Smoke Buddah (Redman from Muddy Waters)

mp3: Treez (Wu-Tang Clan from Mathematics Presents Wu-Tang Returns Mixtape)

mp3: Is This Weed? (Chris Tucker from Rush Hour)

mp3: Smoke Two Joints (Sublime from 40 Oz. to Freedom)

mp3: Ganja Babe (Michael Franti and Spearhead from Weeds--Music from the Original Series)

mp3: Weed (Katt Williams from Live: Let a Playa Play)

mp3: Ganja Street ft. George Clinton (Kim Manning aka Peaches from her MySpace)

mp3: Gummi Bears Theme, Dutch Version (Some Dutchy McDutcherson from the Dutch version of Disney's Gummi Bears, natch)*

mp3: Pot Smoking (Bill Hicks from Love, Laughter and Truth)

*If listening to the Gummi Bear theme song in Dutch doesn't automatically make you smile, well, you, sir or madam, are dead on the inside.

Happy St. Patty's!

i'm pretty sure i'd be in danger of losing my Mc card if i didn't do something to celebrate St. Patrick's Day on ye olde blog today, and we clearly can't have that happening. The discounts it affords on corned beef alone are worth the price of admission, and i ain't screwing with that.

Sadly, there will be no Jameson or Guinness for me this evening, thanks to these god awful blood thinners, but i am finishing a Shamrock Shake as i write this, so life ain't all bad. Plus, i got through most of Darby O'Gill and the Little People during my lunch hour, so the day has by no means been a complete loss.

To help put you in the mood, i've compiled a few tracks by some of the Motherland's finest, from pope haters to degenerate drunks. Faith and beggorah, i do love being Irish.

mp3: State of Massachusetts (Dropkick Murphys from The Meanest of Times)

mp3: The Wrong Company (Flogging Molly from Within a Mile of Home)

mp3: Pretty (Remix) (The Cranberries from Pret-a-Porter OST)

mp3: Creep (Radiohead Cover) (Darby O'Gill and the Little People from Traditional Irish Dance Music Vol. 1)

mp3: Why Don't You Do Right? (Sinead O'Connor from Am I Not Your Girl?)

i don't believe Stephen Lynch is himself of the Mc-ish persuasion, but that doesn't mean he can't write a fine Irish jig about menstruation.

mp3: Down to the Old Pub Instead (Stephen Lynch from SuperHero)

i REALLY wanted to post the mp3 of Sean Connery singing "My Pretty Irish Girl," but i couldn't find it. i had the Disney boxed set it was on years ago, but what can you do? Thank St. Pat for YouTube, eh?

Oh, and in case you aren't near a McDonald's, here's what you're missing.

In closing, Erin Go Bra-less!

It's Covered: When the River Meets the Sea

Every year, the networks trudge out the same old holiday specials. You've got your tried and true Chuck Brown and his pathetic tree and the Grinch fucking with the Whos, as well as some newer numbers, like Shrek, making a bid for "classic" status. Back when i was knee high to a grasshopper, there was a show that helped "make it" Christmas for me every year which, sadly, no longer sees the light of syndicated day. As any Gen Xer worth his salt would know, i'm obviously talking about Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. This is old school Muppetry at its finest--Jim was still live and kickin' and Walt Inc. hadn't gotten their nasty little fingers into that marionette puppet pie. HBO ran the show for a number of Christmases past, but hasn't in forever. i'm guessing it has something to do with the aforementioned Disney buy-out, but who knows?

Regardless, the show had a number of winner tracks. One might even be on the verge of that "classic" status. For those of you in the know, i'm obviously talking about "When the River Meets the Sea," though i wouldn't have faulted you if you thought i meant "Riverbottom Nightmare Band." While the track was written by Paul Williams for the Emmett Otter special and later covered by John Denver and the Muppets for that kick ass Christmas album, it actually isn't about Christmas or even the holidays at all. It's about dying and leaving this mortal coil, so you know the kids loved it immediately.

For your listening pleasure, we have two versions from Ma Otter herself, plus JD and the Muppets, AND a take by none other than Rose Polenzani (that's OK, i didn't know who she was, either). Whilst enjoying, i strongly recommend chowing down on some of Momma's barbecue, but that may just be me.

mp3: When the River Meets the Sea (Ma Otter from Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas)

mp3: When the River Meets the Sea (Ma Otter and Emmett Otter's Jug-Band from Emmett Otter's Jug-Band Christmas)

mp3: When the River Meets the Sea (John Denver and the Muppets from A Christmas Together)

mp3: When the River Meets the Sea (Rose Polenzani, live on WERS, 3/13/07)

(Ed. note: continuing our blog-on-blog lovefest of late, a special shout out to another of our faves, She'll Grow Back, for assistance procuring the EOJB soundtrack. Longtime loiterers will recall that these are the cats that inspired It's Covered in the first place, so you can blame/thank Mark over there accordingly by checking out his blog. His Stagger Lee Saturdays alone are worth the price of admission.)

Free Mixtape Love

Sadly, i do not have any interesting medical updates today. Nothing was stuck in an uncomfortable orifice, my pee hasn't started glowing in the dark, and my cravings for brains remains pretty much at a constant, controllable level. So what the hell do we have to discuss today, class?

Well, i would hardly be worth my Irish heritage if i couldn't think of something with which to regale you lot. As luck would have it, i've stumbled across all sorts of good freebies in the past 24 hours. Luckier still, i have deigned to share these treasures with you jackals. After all, it is the holidays, and LET is all about the love.

First (and second) up are two incredible rap mixtapes by some freaking incredible underground, indie MCs, Danny! and Lupe Fiasco. i could lie and claim i stumbled upon this myself, but i won't. As with all your hip-hop news related needs, it came from one of my top three mp3 blogs, Passion of the Weiss. i could turn this into a real blog-on-blog handjob article on how dreamy PotW is, how i have their picture in my locker at school, blah, blah, blah, but that hardly would be very exciting, now would it? Instead, i will draw your attention to their take on the new Blakroc release. Any of that sound familiar? Did LET and PotW have some emails going back and forth on the topic, spitballing review ideas to one another? i really want to use the Robin Colcord lines from when he took Sam's ideas for the bar upgrades, but Google is really letting me down here. Anyway, they do a far better job than i can describing the latest from Danny! and Lupe Fiasco than i can, so i'll let you read theirs. i will say this, though--both spit fire with quick, intelligent and still goofy rhymes. Personally, i like Danny!'s beats better, but that's just me. Anybody who can add a Cheshire Cat sample from Disney's Alice in Wonderland is alright in my book.

(Ed. note 1: Students, refer to earlier chapters on Beef Wars. What's happening here is good natured ribbing to help cross-promote an excellent blog. Always remember and never forget, LET always using ribbing because we care about your pleasure.)

(Ed. note 2: Yes, i did go that far for that juvenile a condom joke. You're welcome)

Last, but most certainly not least, is a holiday treat from ex-Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle. He's whipped up a handful of instrumental piano pieces just for us. Other than the album artwork and the note on the webpage denoting this is for Xmas 2009, there's nothing particularly "Christmas-y" about it, but it is excellent music to have on while wrapping presents nonetheless. According to the J-Man, the music is a result of him simply sitting down and recording about a half hour's worth of improvisational tunes. He claims this is one of his favorite things (musically) to do at home, and i have to admit, the comfortableness of the moment certainly does shine through.

You'll need to follow the various links below to get the full mixtapes, but here are some of my fave tracks to get your tongues in chop licking mode.

In summation, i'm not saying PotW is biting on my rhymes, chomping on my styles, macking on the kid like a crocodile, i'm just saying. You know what i'm saying?

mp3: Where is Danny? (Danny! from Where is Danny?)

mp3: The National Anthem (Lupe Fiasco from enemy of the state: a love story)

mp3: out cold on indian ambien (Jason Lytle from Merry X-Mas 2009)

Singles Club: St. Vincent

Have you heard the new St. Vincent single, "The Strangers", yet? It's from Actor, due out this May. I've got to say, I kind of like it, just a little bit. Annie Clark sounds like she's remained true to the sound her glorious debut, Marry Me , but seems to have updated things, slightly as well. Ms. Clark's ethereal vocals play marvelously against a backdrop of lush, lightly tinged electronica and odd instrumentation, creating quite the sonic palette.

I understand the CD was in part inspired by her viewing of classic Disney movies, and I'd like to say for the record, I'm all for her scoring the next Grimm bastardization.

Since you were kind enough to stop by here to get your St. Vincent fix, how about a little something extra, too? Here's St. Vincent's take on the Beatles classic, live at Ft. Worth Modern.

mp3: The Strangers

mp3: Dig a Pony