Tag Archives: Vivian Girls
Other Music Haul
Posted in New York
Tagged andrew bird, Dum Dum Girls, Eugene Mirman, Phoenix, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Vivian Girls, Yo La Tengo
HotChaCha added to Vivian Girls show (Friday)
Recently added to the Vivian Girls show at the Summit this Friday is Cleveland’s HotChaCha, who’ll serve as the local-ish opener. The all-girl group’s full-length debut, The World’s Hardest Working Telescope & The Violent Birth of Stars, won’t be out till October on Exit Stencil (Spanish Prisoners, Dreadful Yawns), but we’ve got the leadoff track for you below as a sneak preview.
mp3: HotChaCha – One Thousand Pillows Soft
Huge guitars drenched in delay, vocals with attitude–at times it’s hard to tell if these girls wanna be post-rock, post-punk or just plain ol’ punk. Either way, it’s a tasty soup. CMJ said it well recently when describing HotChaCha’s first EP:
…this all-femme foursome squeeze late ’80s 4AD into today’s A.D.D. indie subset, with little regard for lilting over-reverbed soundscapes, but lots of chiming ’80s chorus pedals that take dead horse post-punk riffs out of the glue factory for a spell.… The vibe here is art-school dropout, the look approachable punk-gal, but the songwriting simmers out of Ohio’s femme-forged, rustic alt-rock past (Heartless Bastards, Scrawl).
Oh yeah, and we’ve got a pair of tickets to this one, too. To enter this contest, send a blank e-mail to contest@donewaiting.com with the subject VIVIAN GIRLS. A winner will be randomly chosen on Friday morning, 8/28.
Donewaiting.com Presents Vivian Girls, 8/28 @ The Summit, Columbus OH
Donewaiting.com is excited to partner with Benco Presents for the Vivian Girls show on Friday, August 28 at The Summit. I was a big fan of their debut album released last year and am excited we can work with Ben on this show. Also on the bill are The Beets.
We’ve got a pair of tickets to give away for this lovely show. To enter, send a blank e-mail with the subject title VIVIAN GIRLS to contest@donewaiting.com. A winner will be randomly chosen around August 25. This show is likely to sell out, so if you want to play it safe you can always purchase tickets in advance.
Listen to a song from their upcoming new album:
(big ups to DW Columbus Editor Joel O for making this show promotion happen)
SXSW Day 4: Kanye West, Dead Prez, Vivian Girls, Mason Proper
If the zoom on my camera was better, this photo of Kanye would be so much cooler:
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The last day of SXSW always is a bit of haze. It’s hard to consider watching bands all day and eating free food as “work”, but man, tell that to my feet. Dang. I started the day off at the Rachael Ray party, an event that had one of the longest lines I’d seen all week. I was able to bypass it and get in early (dont hate), and went on to drink way too many Rachael Ray mojitos. Ate her food, too. This beer and beef burger with chedder bacon biscuit ruled my life. I would seriously cut someone in the neck for another one. (I saw Rachael briefly, but she was crowded. I wanted a photo of her for my sister, but it didn’t work out)
It was then off to The Hot Freaks party again, this time catching Vivian Girls, Mason Proper, and Viva Voce. This is how it went down: Vivian Girls‘ instruments broke down after a few songs. The pains of doing too many shows, I think. Their hearts weren’t totally into the set, but I enjoyed what they played. If it was any other band I might not give them the leeway, though.
Mason Proper sounded AMAZING live. Seriously, they recreate the sounds of their album almost too perfectly live. Lead singer has a lot more energy onstage than I saw most bands all week, so that was a refreshing change. As for Viva Voce, well, I dunno dudes. When I saw them as a two piece they seem to have amazing fire and energy in them, but their set as a four (5?) piece wasn’t as inspiring. I’ll have to check them out again in a non-SXSW environment.
Vivian Girls
It was then off to the Fader Fort for one of the worst kept secrets of SXSW: Kanye West performing. Before he went on, there was some good stuff though. Diplo and Switch’s new band, Major Lazer. If I had any energy in me, I would have danced like a crazy person to this, but I was already running on empty. They threw out several hundred t-shirts to the audience and it made everyone sort of lose their mind. It was fun.
I spent the next few hours hanging out with the SCHED team, talking about next year’s SXSW. Side note: I’ve learned that at SXSW you don’t need to see 20 bands a day to have a good time. In fact, I saw fewer bands this year than any other but probably had more fun. Hanging out with old friends goes a long way, let me tell you.
Before Kanye’s showcase, Dead Prez came out for a three song set. I have proof:
It was then time for Kanye West‘s G.O.O.D Music Showcase. I’d never seen Kanye live, unfortunately, so catching him in a smaller venue was a real thrill. In keeping with the SXSW spirit, he played some of his songs while also introducing his up and coming artists of his label. People went absolutely insane for Kid Cudi, man. And when Kanye brought out Common and Erykah Badu, people just about lost their marbles. Definitely a special event and I was glad to be there. Read Pitchfork’s story for a more thorough write-up.
After that I went to to see Silversun Pickups, but their show was running late and I had a 6:30AM flight to catch, so I went home for the night, already plotting out SXSW 2010.
NOTES
– SXSW is the greatest music festival, hands down.
– Shout out to my Irish roommate Niall of Nialler9. You don’t know it yet but I’m crashing at your house within the next 2 years.
– Thanks again to Energizer’s Energi to Go. You can see the photos I took on their Flickr, some videos here. Also they’re on Twitter and Facebook.
– Don’t forget to get some vitamins in you during SXSW. Pizza is delicious, though.
– It was great meeting old and new friends alike.
– For readers of DW who aren’t into SXSW, coverage is over! (for now)
– 2010 SXSW can’t come soon enough.
Tagged Dead Prez, Kanye West, Major Lazer, mason proper, Viva Voce, Vivian Girls
SXSW Day 2: Blogger Panel, Amanda Palmer, Hair Salons
Day 2 of SXSW began with me speaking at the music blogger panel. Here’s a photo of me and Amanda Palmer’s legs:
It was a real honor to be on the panel, and I enjoyed hearing my fellow bloggers (Justin of Aquarium Drunkard, Bill from Brooklyn Vegan/Sound Bites, Janet from Out the Other, Glenn from Coolfer), talk about what we do, impacts on the local scene, etc. While the title was “Bloggers Are Now in Charge,” the description of the panel actually applied more to what we discussed: “Amid the rubble of the music industry, a new breed of music enthusiasts has established instantaneous and direct links to like-minded fans. What exactly is their impact on the scene?”
After the panel, I met up with Alina Simone and her high school bud Amanda Palmer for lunch at Iron Cactus. Tacos were goooood. I didn’t spend any time really seeing music in the afternoon, just hung out with friends and caught up. After coming to SXSW for a few years, I realized some of my favorite times of the festival are unrelated to actually seeing bands.
I was walking to see Cursive with Taylor when someone invited us into a hair salon to drink free margaritas and hear music. I’ve never seen a musician perform while I sat in a chair that is normally reserved for people getting their hair cut, but there’s a first time for everything. Only at SXSW! The musician I saw was Madelyn Cascio, and it was a nice relaxing way to start the day. I took a video you can see here.
My evening schedule got f’d up in the beginning. I went to Aces Lounge to see Rosie and the Goldbug and Vivian Girls, but after waiting around forever I found out that the entire schedule was pushed back an hour. OOOOOOF. I went next door to catch the last song of Peggy Sue, who were good and I’d like to catch a full set at some point.
I walked upstairs to the Parish upstairs to catch Anya Marina cover T.I. and then it was off to the live.create lounge to catch Alina Simone’s set. Her new stuff sounded amazing and I can’t wait to hear her next full length. Also added to the amazement: they piped in chocolate scent into the venue. I felt like I was at Hershey Park.
Onward to the Central Presbyterian Church for Amanda Palmer! After missing her the day before and meeting her for lunch, I was really excited to finally see her live. And she didn’t disappoint. Because it’s a church, she was able to perform her first song a capella and she quickly had the crowd in the palm of her hand. Margaret Cho joined her for a funny duet, and she also played the song she penned with Neil Gaiman called “I Google You.”
At this point of the night I realized that I had unintentially only seen female musicians. I ended the evening with Elvis Perkins in Dearland again, and was cut short when I got a text message that donewaiting.com went down. Had to head home early to fix the website, and prepare for today.
NOTES
– Agit Reader SXSW coverage here
– I’ve been taking photos for my sponsor, Energizer’s Energi to Go. You can see all of them here.
SXSW Updates for 2/24
A little birdie told me that the Filter Day Parties will be announced this week.
- Found Magazine and Quack Media have a huge show featuring The Hold Steady, Lucero, No Age, and more. RSVP dudes.
- Urban Outfitters has bands playing in their parking lot every day. It’s a huge list, including Chairlift, Vivian Girls, School of Seven Bells, Telepathe, and more.
- Mile Hi-Fidelity show features Dressy Bessy + more.
- Goner Records Showcase features Nobunny, Digital Leather, more.
- Victim of Time Showcase features Eat Skull, Psychedelic Horseshit, more.
- Can’t Stop the Bleeding has Endless Boogie, Psychedelic Horseshit, The Homosexuals, more.
This time next month you’ll still be hungover.
Posted in SXSW Blog
Tagged Chairlift, Psychedelic Horseshit, the Hold Steady, Vivian Girls
2/12 SXSW Updates
We’re starting to get a lot of official showcases announced by the bands/organizations putting them together… This is usually a sign that the final list of bands/full music schedule will be released soon.
- Gorilla Vs Bear has announced Gorilla Vs Booze III, featuring Vivian Girls, Wavves, more. (Remember the internet when there weren’t 500 daily references to Wavves? A Distant memory..)
- After the Jump Festival announced both official and unofficial shows
- KCRW’s official showcase features Ida Maria, School of Seven Bells, more
- Asthmatic Kitty, K Records, and Tomlab are joining forces for a big show.
- My Old Kentucky Blog is doing an official showcase. They’ve got The Grates, Viva Voce, Delta Spirit, and more.
Vivian Girls at SXSW 2009?
According to The Golden Triangle’s MySpace page, there is a Mexican Summer showcase on 3/19 @ Club 1808 with Soft Pack, Crystal Stilts, Crystal Antlers, Vivian Girls, Golden Triangle.
Comments Off on Vivian Girls at SXSW 2009?
Posted in SXSW Blog
Favorite Albums, Songs and Concerts of 2008 by Robert Duffy
(Florence and the Machine)
While looking back at 2008’s year in music, I decided that for the first time I didn’t want to make a list of just albums. Now that most of the money I spend on music is either via vinyl or mp3s, it didn’t make sense to keep it that limited. So far that reason, I’ve mixed up albums, singles and live performances into one list. Equal ranking, no handicaps.
Another first in this list is the addition of a lot of Columbus music to my overall picks. Previous years there might have been one or two locals that made appearances, but this time around there’s a total of 5 Columbus hits out of 13. I was never was good at math but I think that’s like 123.b3%. It’s a great time to be a fan of music and living in Columbus.
With each entry you’ll find buy/video/mp3 and stream links. Give ’em a click and maybe you’ll find a new favorite too.
1. Florence and the Machine, Live @ SXSW & Kiss With a Fist (single)
It’s been nine months since SXSW, and Florence and the Machine’s performance still echoes in my brain. It was a demonstration of fire and energy, of putting all of your soul out there and giving the audience something to remember. Click here to see a video of the show.
Kiss With a Fist is a perfect song of rage and revenge without apology. Florence’s voice reminds me Dorothy Love filtered through Karen O’s artistis sensibility and goddamn if this song isn’t catchy as hell. I think I read on the BBC website that in parts of London you can actually not be charged with assault if you tell the police that you were inspired by this song.
While other albums that came out this year certainly were amazing, nothing could beat this single song as my top choice of the year.
Buy Vinyl on Amazon
Kiss With a Fist Video
2. The Dodos, Visiter (album)
Visiter is such a rich album to listen to, it’s hard for me to do anything else while playing it on my headphones. It’s rare that I actually notice the drums or banjo or backup vocals in beautiful detail, and that’s what helps makes this album such a standout.
MP3: Red and Purple | Buy on Amazon
3. Times New Viking, Rip it Off (album)
The first time I saw Times New Viking was when they opened up for The Arcade Fire in Columbus. (To put it in perspective, the show wasn’t even halfway sold out of a 400 capacity venue). My initial impressions were “okay i don’t get it.” Everything started to make much more sense as time passed and I was able to see them live more. Songs are fuzzy and distorted and recorded on equipment that might have been recovered from a basement flood, but they have enough kick in them to fill an arena. These damaged pop songs make up one of the most important albums in recent Columbus history. I can’t wait to hear what they do next.
MP3: Drop Out | Buy on Amazon
4. Gnarls Barkley, The Odd Couple (album)
It would have been easy for Gnarls Barkley to try and recreate the success of “Crazy”, but instead they took an artistic and far more interesting turn. I love the slow burn of this noiry lounge album. Cee Lo’s voice still goes down nice and smooth and Danger Mouse knows how to assemble the right beats and instruments to wrap around it. Don Draper approves.
Buy on Amazon
5. Los Campesinos!, Hold On Now, Youngster and We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed (albums)
It’s not fair to other bands when one band comes around and puts out two amazing records in the same year. The nerve! Anyway, both are a logical extension of the modern Belle and Sebastian discography but with more distortion and just slightly more energy. See…. music can be fun and challenging at the same time.
MP3: Don’t Tell Me to Do The Math(s) | Buy on Amazon
6. Columbus Discount Records, The Columbus Discount Singles Club Year 1
You’ve got to have a lot of confidence (and a twinge of insanity) to be a small label and decide to commit to a year-long vinyl singles club (run of 250 each). The gamble paid off both financially (the club sold out within weeks) and musically, with bands like El Jesus de Magico releasing some of their finest work. Still to come in the series: The Unholy Two, Psychedelic Horseshit, Mike Rep and many more. Forget trying to create bullshit slogans like “Indie Art Capital of the World,” Columbus Discount Records should be looked upon as a true banner of inspiration to the entire arts community in Columbus.
Message Board Discussion | Buy Online — sold out!!
7. Langhorne Slim, Langhorne Slim (album)
When I was relistening to this album as a primer for the list writing, I finally realized that most of the songs on this album hover around the 2 and 3 minutes mark. It struck me as interesting because in each short song an incredibly detailed picture is painted with Slim’s lyrics. Call it hit and run songwriting maybe. This album is a great example of a band living in the Americana genre but not sounding completely cliche.
MP3: Hello Sunshine | Buy on Amazon
8. Alina Simone, Everyone is Crying Out to Me, Beware (album)
I can just imagine Alina’s pitch… “Okay, here’s my idea… I am going to do an album of all covers. And they’re songs written by a Russian musician. And yeah, I am going to sing all the songs completely in Russian…. Oh and I am going to put her photo on the cover and not mine.” While this album may be sung completely in Russian, it only enhances the impact. Desperation and longing and hope pour out of Alina’s voice with each song, making it one of the most emotional albums released this year.
MP3: Half My Kingdom | Buy on Amazon
9. Two Cow Garage, Speaking in Cursive (album)
On Two Cow Garage’s fourth album, they’ve finally hit their side. You can hear the confidence in their songwriting and singing. Always on the road, in both Europe and the US of A, chances are Two Cow Garage is playing your home town this weekend. People need to throw away their Kings of Leon albums and listen to this instead.
MP3: Your Humble Narrator | Donewaiting.com Interview | Buy on Amazon
10. Envelope, Shark Bolt (album)
Blueprint reigns supreme over the Columbus hip hop scene, but Envelope has quietly slid into the #2 spot. With the release of his second album, this blue collar rapper has shown he’s got what it takes to mix it up in the big leagues. The national press are starting to take notice and things are coming up Envelope in 2009.
MP3: Straight Up (featuring Hugs and Kisses) | Buy on Amazon
11. Vivian Girls, Vivian Girls (album)
This album makes me want to go drag racing and get tattoos and road trip to Austin TX and find those vampires from that one Tarantino movie and stab them in their undead, vampire hearts. While all the locals thank me for taking care of their vampire problem, the Vivian Girls will be blairing out of my vintage Mustang.
Buy on Amazon
12. The Hold Steady, Stay Positive (album)
Craig Finn’s cast of characters are back in more episodes of discouragement, dead ends and hopeful dreams. I’ve totally bought into the world he’s created. I want to know everything about the people he sings about and would pay at least $20 for a companion book that expanded upon the songs. And man, there’s so many lyrics casually tossed off that just stick around my thoughts for a real long time.
Buy on Amazon
13. Moon High, Moon High (album)
If you didn’t know that Moon High was from Ohio, you might think they make their music somewhere on a secluded California beach, dividing time between recording and exploring the rock formations in the ocean. There’s a casual beauty that sweeps the entire record that feels warm and breezy. A perfect album to get us through the winter.
MP3: Gathering Song | Buy Album