Tag: rock ‘n’ roll photog

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Postcards from the Pit: Fall Out Boy / NK, House of Blues Boston, 5/26/13

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In which I went to Boston for Fall Out Boy, and it was an awesome, sweaty, raucous festival of joy.

But to back up a little bit: Up first was NK, which is Ryan Hunter and Brian Byrne (Envy on The Coast) and Billy Rymer (Dillinger Escape Plan), and they’re currently touring with Isaac Bolivar and Matt Fazzi (Taking Back Sunday).

They have a heavy rap-rock Rage Against The Machine vibe going. I didn’t know any of their songs but I could nonetheless appreciate the barely controlled surge and snarl of their drums and guitars. I’m pretty sure it isn’t possible to listen to their set and not suddenly find yourself banging your head.

Some highlights:

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This really is Ryan Hunter (Envy on the Coast). He cut all of his dreads off!
 
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Joe Trohman and Isaac Bolivar, headbanging.
 
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The right side of the stage . . .
 
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. . . and the left.

And then it was time for the main event. Fall Out Boy came out in a burst of light and noise and kicked it off with Thriller – their Thriller, not Michael Jackson’s – which was an absolute perfect choice and caused my heart to clench with pain and affection even as I was grinning at them like an idiot.

I have a medium-sized number of thinky thoughts about the show / spectacle, specifically: that both Thriller and This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race have gained new, sharper edges over time; that The Phoenix is both the thrilling rally cry of a band coming back wrapped around a reminder to hold on, hold on, even when your band has gone away; that if you don’t start jumping during The Phoenix, I think you might be dead inside; that Fall Out Boy has emerged from their hiatus as an energized and cohesive unit, ready to rally the troops and take on the world (and maybe take over the world, too); that calling their record Save Rock and Roll might be brash and a little obnoxious but, well, Fall Out Boy would not be Fall Out Boy if they were not brash and a little obnoxious; and that brash, a little obnoxious, overblown and sometimes overwrought is why we love them. It’s why we jump up and down and and wave our hands in the air. It’s what makes the room sing.

And now, some pictures. I was three rows back from the stage and, as you will see, deep in a forest of hands, but these are some of the good shots:

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Video: Klassik, Forever Whatever

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Klassik is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and his music is a delicate fusion of jazz and hip-hop. His latest video features a great tune, some truly trippy special effects, awesome dancing, and inexplicable destruction of an innocent piano.

Check it:

 

Klassik - Forever Whatever Official Video

 

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AF THE NAYSAYER feat. Myka Nyne, Imagerial Denouement

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There are actually two songs here; I’ve embedded them together rather than separately because they flow into each other so neatly and naturally.

The first one is Imagerial Denouement by AF THE NAYSAYER, with Myka Nyne on vocals. The second song has the same name, but is an instrumental track.

They are, collectively, a little bit funky and a little bit bluesy and all excellent.
 

 

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Two Songs From: We Are The West

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Reasons I sometimes wish I lived in Los Angeles, #8781323: We Are The West host and perform in a concert series in the underground parking garage of an office building in Santa Monica the Saturday night before each full moon.

I’m not going to say anything else. I’m just going to let y’all listen to my two favorite songs, and contemplate what it would be like to hear them deep in the earth, amid steel and stone.


 

 

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Tallahassee: Old Ways

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Tallahassee is: Brian Barthelmes (Vocals, Guitar, Banjo, Resonator), Scott Thompson (Guitar, Banjo, Keys), Shawn Carney (Electric Bass, Upright Bass) and Matt Raskopf (Drums, Percussion), and they are from Rhode Island, not Florida.

Despite taking their name from a Native American word meaning “Old Town” and calling their most recent record “Old Ways,” this is not a band that is facing backwards or hewing closely to traditional lines. Or at least not just one traditional line; their tunes are a rich stew of country, blues, and funk lightly spiced with shoegaze, the kind of thing that will warm you up and stick to your ribs at the same time.

These are three of my favorite songs from the record:

Old Brown Shoes: Because Meet me down at the Greyhound station / What have you got left to lose resonates in weird ways right now, mainly because I’ve spent a lot of time on the bus these last couple of months. Sometimes it’s been awful; other times it’s been shared hash browns and shared stories in the chilly light of dawn.
 

 
Riding With the Devil: I don’t ramble as much as I used to, but I’d still sing this song around a campfire, while toasting marshmellows for s’mores.
 

 
Minor Blues IV: It was a tie between this one and I’ll Be Damned; I finally picked this one to share to highlight the way they weave shoegaze shimmer and drone between funk bounce in deft and interesting ways.
 

 
And in conclusion, here are some pictures of them from a recent show at the Bowery Electric, in New York:
 


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Big Lonely: Short Stories with Recurring Characters

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biglonely

Big Lonely are from Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and Stories With Recurring Characters is their first EP. They start out with a sweet indie pop-rock groove and then go careering off the rails in the best way possible right in the middle of a song, and it only gets better from there.

Here is the video for Poseidon, in which there are dead fish and the sea god rescues someone while wearing what I think might be a Burger King crown:
 

Big Lonely - Poseidon

 

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Video: The Rest, Who Knows

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Here is the video for Who Knows from, SEESAW, by The Rest. The third in their ongoing series, it features science, the world’s most maddening Rorschach test cards, some super-freaky drawings, 3-D printing, birds, and explosions, roughly in that order.

If you watch it with the sound off it still makes perfect sense as a movie, which makes it one of my very favorite kinds of music videos.

 

The Rest - Who Knows

 

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Two Songs From: Night Engine

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Night Engine are from London, England. They only have four songs; I’ve picked these two because I listened to them and immediately wanted a) acquire all of their music and b) lace up my boots and go out dancing.

This is I’ll Make It Worth Your While, and, darlings, THEY WILL. Click that button, you won’t regret it:
 

 
This is Seventeen, which takes a minute to get into gear but when it does it takes off like bounce and swagger-fueled rocket:
 

 

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Salt Petal: Sea Monster

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Salt Petal are: Autumn Harrison (Vocals/Accordeon), Rodrigo Gonzalez (Guitar), Hiroo Nakano (Drums), Jesse Herrera (Bass), and Dayna Richards (Trumpet). They are currently from Los Angeles, but have roots in Argentina.

Their music is an effervescent combination of languages – English, Spanish and Portuguese – and styles, including Argentinian folk, Brazilian tropicalia, Cumbia (big brass band sound) and rock and roll.

Sea Monster is their second record, and it is a lush, expansive collection of tunes. It’s hard to pick particular favorites because I’m really fond of the whole thing, but highlights include Por la Luna, Darkest Hours and Es Dificil.

Here they are with their first single, Songs I Used to Love:

Salt Petal - "Songs I Used To Love"

 
 

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[strangers], Something New

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Something New, from [strangers] featuring Eleanor Fletcher (Crystal Fighters), music for: Here we go over the falls, one more time. Maybe this is a terrible idea, but we don’t care. We can see the white water and the rocks but it doesn’t matter, we have each other. We’re too busy making new universes every time we kiss to care about things like logic and sense and appropriate planning. Are we doomed? Maybe. We’ll find out when we land.
 

 

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