Lollapalooza 2011

This past weekend (Aug 5-7) I attend Lollapalooza in the beautiful Grant Park located in downtown Chicago. I will be giving you a short rundown of everyone that I was able to see and how their set was.

Day 1
Delta Spirit: Put on a very engaging show that is reminiscent of the country rock & rollers of the past. Their music was tight, well done and wasn't too heavy on the theatrics, but their sound more than made up for this.
Foster the People/Feed me: I can enjoy catchy hooks as much as the next guy, but Foster the people were not made to perform for such a large and open crowd, this showed in their music, which was shallow and boring, much like their fan base. Feed Me on the other hand delivered on the bass heavy sound that he is known for, the lights and lasers also helped, watch out for this guy in the future.
The Bloody Beetroots-Death Crew 77: This had to be the hottest, sweatiest and most crazy show of the entire weekend and I wouldn't have had it any other way. With the live instruments/vocals, they were at the top of their game, this was evident in the fact that they sounded 10x better than they do on their album, they were also briefly joined by former Refused front man Dennis Lyxzen.
Crystal Castles: Words cannot describe the cerebral experience that is a Crystal Castles show, it is something that needs to be witnessed first hand, easily one of the best performances of the weekend. Although through no fault of her own, Alice Glasses vocals kept cutting out thanks to a technician who could not have cared less, but this did not take too much away form the awe inspiring experience.
Coldplay/Ratatat/Girl Talk/Muse: Since it was the first night and I wanted to get everything that Lolla had to offer I decided to check out a few songs from each of the headliners this fine night. All of them put on stellar performances and I cannot complain about any of them, because they all accomplished what they had set out to do that night and appealed to their specific crowd.

Day 2
Grouplove: A great way to start of the second day of the festival, their poppy sound was just the thing to lift my spirits after waking up so early. All of the members of the band seemed like they were having a great time on stage, which only added to the sugary appeal of their music.
Walk the Moon/Phantogram: I was not able to catch the complete sets for either band, but from the bits that I heard from each band, they both sounded like they knew what they were doing and how they wanted to do it. I only wish I could have seen each show individually.
Fitz & the Tantrums: Let me start by saying, I absolutely love this band. Every song is just as catchy as the last and the charisma that is exuded from each band member only makes this fact even more evident when they are on stage. Their set was fun, danceable and infused with memories of a more swinging time, which pretty sums the show and the band.
Death From Above 1979: This was the show I had been anticipating since the minute the lineup was released and it did not disappoint in any way. The band has been broken up since 2006 and only recently got back together and played their first reunion show last April, but they have never sounded better, it was like they had never broken up in the first place. Their performance was full of energy and spunk, which translated well to this festival and gave the crowed a reason to go insane for every song. Hands down my favorite set of the weekend.
The Glitch Mob: In all of my years i have never seen a more professional looking and sounding "electronic" band. The band was all dressed in suits and played all of their parts live, without any help from computers, they also played live drums. The light show that they chose to utilize helped exemplify the glitchy sound that they are known for, I've also never an "electronic" band have more fun on stage.
Beirut: This set was absolutely the most beautiful set I saw the entire weekend, not only because of the music that was played, Zach Condon's amazing voice or the sound, but also the atmosphere of the show. The show had a small attendance (it was put up against Eminem and My Morning Jacket) and was on stage surrounded by trees on all sides, all of these things made it all the more magical. Overall the most magical and beautiful set of the weekend, miles ahead of Eminem or anyone else that day.
Day 3
Titus Andronicus: I was in the front for this show, so I was protected form the sun, which hleped given that this was the first show of the day and what a show it was. Titus knows how to put on a show/play for a crowd and they could not have asked for a more welcoming and loving crowd to play for, since it was so early in the day only diehard Titus fans were out for this one and I was one of them. Most of their set was strictly off of 2010's The Monitor, but the set was nonetheless amazing.
The Cool Kids: The Cool Kids may be Hip-hop, but they played at Perry's tent, which is the electronic music area and this meant that they could incorporated lights into their set, which was a nice addition. Their show was fun and enjoyable, but the crowd was not as into it as I was, mainly because it was made up of rave kids and college bros, but oh well.
Flogging Molly: The sun was out in full force for this show, but that did not stop everyone in the crowd and band from having a great time. Their set was heavy on crowd pleasers and songs that utilized the group's talent as a whole, because they wanted to showcase the group's for each other as well as the audience. Other than that their set was just all around phenomenal for everyone involved.
Explosions in the Sky: Luckly there was a break in the rain for this show and I'm very glad for that, because the sky was very pretty while they played. Since their set got cut down to 45 minutes they had to get to the good stuff much faster, so many of the songs they played were shortened, but this did not take away from the beauty that is evident in their music.
Kid Cudi: Other than the fact that for the whole show I was standing in mud, this was an alright show, but was missing something. Cudi's vocals did sound that good, but the music was top notch, so i cannot complain too much. The highlight came when he covered All of the Lights by Kanye West, but other than that, the show was just average.

Pitchfork Music Festival

Pitchfork Music Festival took place this past weekend in the fine city of Chicago, while I was not able to attend, it was still enjoyable to watch the live stream of the events. Some of the highlights include Animal Collective, Das Racist, Fleet Foxes, Superchunk, OFWGKTA, How to Dress Well, Curren$y, James Blake, Gang Gang Dance, The Dismemberment Plan, The Radio Dept., Baths, HEALTH and Cut Copy. Read all about the festival here: http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/8007-pitchfork-music-festival-2011/1/

The most important 16 minutes of music you will ever hear.

How To Dress Well

Just Once EP

10/10

Available digitally Tuesday, July 12th.  Limited edition vinyl available July 21st.

Words like “deconstructionist” or “abstractionist” are words that start getting tossed around when you attempt to describe the sounds created by Tom Krell, and his one-man project How To Dress Well, because on paper, a theoretical genre like “lo-fi R&B” may not make sense to anyone outside of the Pitchfork crowd.  Krell rose to fame in 2010 thanks to a very large push from Pitchfork, with his full length debut Love Remains, and it’s breakout single “Ready For The World,” a reverb-drenched, claustrophobic, clipped and overblown reinterpretation of “Love You Down”—the 1980’s slow jam by Ready For The World.

Krell’s newest release under the moniker How To Dress Well is Just Once, a four-song memorial EP, dedicated to a friend of his who passed away during the making of Love Remains.  On Just Once, Krell re-works three songs, and includes a new song, all dramatically and hauntingly arranged with an orchestra.  These orchestral recordings are, according to Krell, something that will happen just once (hence the name.)

Stripped of all the reverb, feedback, and noise that formed the landscape on Love Remains, Krell’s songwriting steps forward in this batch of tunes, as well as his heartache from the loss of his friend. From the stunning opening a capella arrangement of “Suicide Dream 1” to the final triumphant moments of “Decisions,” and clocking in at a little over 16 minutes, this EP will grab a hold of you and it will not let go.  There are moments total honesty throughout, including a chilling portion of “Suicide Dream 2,” when the music drops out, and Krell’s voice is the only thing you can hear and he carefully sings, “It’s like there’s this weight down on my chest and there’s no air.”  This EP proves that Tom Krell is becoming a true master at conveying his emotions through is art.

Three of the four songs featured on this release involve the word “suicide," and a dollar from every sale of the physical release of this album go to a mental health organization, so for the listener, it’s almost too easy to jump to a conclusion about how his friend passed away.  Whether that is the case or not, the feeling that this EP leaves you with when you have listened to it is something that you will never forget.

-Kevin Krein

Theophilus London "No Particular One"

The retro electro Hip Hop artist from Brooklyn has just released a remix of Jesse Boone's "No Paticular One." He takes a more up beat approach to the song and adds Caribbean flavor. The song contains all live instruments and was recorded in one take. London's new album "Timez Are Weird These Dayz" is dropping on July 17th.

Theophilus London - No Particular One (Hypetrak Exclusive) by Hypetrak

DJ Frasier Crane

Two mysterious DJs that go by DJ Gilligan & DJ Pegga that perform under the moniker DJ Frasier Crane are going to be huge and they only have one song. Be on the look out!http://djfrasiercrane.bandcamp.com/

WATCH THE THRONE

PRE ORDER OUT NOW!




The long awaited collaboration album from Jay-Z and Kanye West is now available for pre-order. This album was supposed to come out a couple of months ago but, due to Kanye's creativity, has been pushed back. I was awoken this morning by a tweet from Kanye showing us the album artwork by Riccardo Tisci.

Patrick's Top 10 Albums of 2011 (So Far)

We have already reached the half-way point in 2011, so here is the list of my favorite albums of the year so far. With another six months to go in the year, who knows what else will come our way.

1. Bon Iver, Bon Iver
2. James Blake, James Blake
3. WU LYF, Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
4. Explosions in the Sky, Take Care, Take Care, Take Care
5. The Antlers, Burst Apart
6. The Strokes, Angles
7. Panda Bear, Tomboy
8. Bright Eyes, The People's Key
9. The Weeknd, House of Balloons
10. Coma Cinema, Blue Suicide