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The Jellyhearts:

Thanks bustown, last nite was all the way live. Word to the wise: if your chest is hella will farrell, jumping on stage w no shirt=bad look.

rj twitter again:

@wesflexner @donewaiting thanks for setting last nite up PROPERRRRR.

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photos by dkline

Soul Position Reunion with Blueprint

@printmatic- good to see you fam! Let’s make the soul position 3peat happen this year. Cause this year, suckers are goin…..

….commisioner crotchbuttons #pause

…sometimes a phone call can make your day….

“i love the scene that created me..copywrite..blueprint..envelope…thought set…i love columbus”

DJ Detox spun in between groups and kept the mood perfect and warm played everything Jay Electronica and Blakroc early, as well as local Hip Hop classics like the RJD2 produced Mhz song “Rocket Science” and hip hop staples like Black Sheep and Tribe leading up to RJ’s epic headling performance.
NP of Thought Set was showcased during their opening set.(He is the third guy on “A Son’s Cycle” off the Colossus. And was joined onstage by Envelope for “Turn It Up”. Enphanate dropped a 5 minute long, jaw-dropping accapella that had patterns and punchlines.

Happy Chichester started his set beatboxing through a pedal that looped it, which he sang and played over.

I didn’t catch much of Kenan Bell’s set because I had to run around.

This all took place during a blizzard.

Kurt Vile and the Violators’ stop in Columbus on NYE eve pretty much lived up to my expectations. The loud psych numbers (“Hunchback,” “Freak Train”) were head-crunching and fist-pumping, and the acoustic selections (“Heart Attack,” “Dead Alive”) echoed with robust fingerpicking and Vile’s casually tossed-off vocals.

Matt Whitehurst of openers Psychedelic Horseshit probably said it best when he announced from the stage that listening to Vile will be like, “When you’re shaving but you don’t have any shaving cream and you’re just, like, shaving your face off… but pretty.”

“Freak Train” was a highlight of the night for me; guesting Rich Horseshit (above, right) on sax was a perfect fit for the controlled chaos. I’m also partial to the talk-singing and “knit me a sweater” Joni Mitchell references on “Dead Alive.”

The Childish Prodigy-centric set was interrupted a few times when the sound cut out. Each time there was some awkward/bummer silence, then Moons Dustin would emerge from the back of the Summit with some sort of wrench in his hand. Weird. The Violators were somehow able to jump right back into the middle of “Freak Train.” (Not so much “Good Lookin Out”).

A few complaints: It was short (though I can’t blame them with all the power outages; just imagine if that’d happened at Jay Reatard’s Summit show…). And I would have liked to hear just a track or two from God is Saying This to You, maybe a couple of them solo? And I’m still waiting see him bust out his banjo skills… But I’d listen to this set all over again.

Great seeing Tommy Jay (above), too. His solo acoustic set, combined with Psychedelic Horseshit’s raucous performance (punctuated by a sorta awesome dub jam), were good precursors to Vile’s split personality.

Kurt Vile set list:
Hunchback
Freak Train
Monkey
Heart Attack
[Can’t decipher my chicken scratch--anybody?]
Dead Alive
Freeway
Good Lookin Out
Breathin Out

This ranks as one of my favorite shows of the year. Bazan’s alternately booming and gentle voice filling the intimate Clintonville living room felt like a special treat. He played lots from Curse Your Branches, a couple of Bazan-ized Christmas songs (see above) and a few covers (including an unexpectedly great version of Tom Petty’s “Climb That Hill”). I should go to more house shows.

After the jump: More words, more photos, plus videos of “Hard to Be,” “Please Baby Please,” “Harmless Sparks” and a better-quality version of the beautiful Julie Doiron cover “Will You Still Love Me in December?”

^^That was my favorite of the night. Fit the mood, the season and the intimacy of the living room.

It wouldn’t be a Bazan show without plenty of interaction with the crowd (“Are there any questions at this point in the show?”), which I love. There were a whole lot of “What’s your favorite ___” questions, but Bazan was affable and candid. We learned about his most-loved bands (The Beatles and Deerhoof), wild escapades in West Virginia, that his 5-year-old daughter’s favorite song off Curse Your Branches is the title track (funny) and that Bazan’s current system of beliefs is pretty similar to where he was when he wrote and recorded that album.

Having longtime collaborator Casey Foubert (Pedro the Lion, Crystal Skulls) present added a lot, especially on a song like “Bearing Witness.” His contributions were always tasteful and welcome.

Bazan will be back in Columbus with a full band on March 28 at the Summit.

Showing their love for Columbus – a city that is a regular tour stop – The Willowz kicked off their short December tour at Cafe Bourbon Street this past Friday night with a tight and efficient 40-minute set heavily loaded with tracks from Everyone (physical release: Dec.15).

If there were opening night of the tour jitters, they weren’t obvious – no miscues on lyrics, no starting or stopping a song too early, no confusion about the setlist. The interaction with the small – but attentive – audience was limited, a few Columbus references and a lot of post-song ‘Thank you’s’ delivered by singer Richie James Follin with a southern twang. Darren, Pete and I tried to determine where Follin was from and if the accent was real and in the cab on the way home we came to the consensus that the twang wasn’t real. (Mr. Follin, please correct us if we’re wrong).

(Darren and Pete)

As with previous Willowz material, the new stuff is heavy on the bluesy, hard garage rock which I’ve often compared to the White Stripes. When trying to sell a co-worker on going to the show by giving her a copy of Everyone, she said their stuff reminded her of Led Zeppelin and Wolfmother, neither of which I would have compared The Willowz to but after seeing them live for the first time, I think I can kind of see where that comparison was coming from.

Not really sure how many songs The Willowz played during their set but I’m guessing they played somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 songs including “Cons and Tricks” from 2006’s Talk in Circles. This song was my introduction to the band and it remains one of my favorites though there are a number of songs on Everyone that are equally as good.

A good night overall that would have been a lot better had the show started earlier. I “get” that Friday night shows aren’t going to start at 9pm, especially when there are only two bands on the bill, but 11:30 seems too late to kick things off.

Maybe I’m just becoming my dad.

View all of Rachael’s photos from the show.

Walking into a packed, sold-out house at the Newport last night was rather incredible. There was an intensely electric buzz that I was sure would progress into quite the charismatic show. Though I was a bit let down to find out The Drums would in fact not be opening (the product of a miscommunication mishap between the promoter and tour), I was pleased to finally catch a set by local band Afortiori. One might call them the kings of the Newport as they seemed to breathe, sleep and eat up all of their time there. Even Phoenix members Deck D’Arcy and Laurent Brancowitz stepped out into the crowd to catch a couple songs before being recognized by members of the crowd and retreating backstage.

The excitement heightened during the break as the “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” banner was dropped as a public announcement of what was to come.

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After taking the stage and the first couple notes of “Lisztomania” beginning, it was on. Not much was left to the imagination as Phoenix from that moment on played their hearts out for every last ticket holder. “Girlfriend,” “Napoleon Says” and “If I Ever Feel Better” were personal highlights of the show.

I honestly haven’t seen so many people having that great of a time there since last year’s two-day Girl Talk stint. Room-wide dance party. Everyone smiling. Guilt-free fun… and lots of beer spilling. Kudos to Phoenix.

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Liam Finn