Destroyer and going to shows alone

Saw Destroyer play at Mississippi Studios in NE Portland this past Sunday. What a treat. Dan Bejar played solo acoustic and sounded GREAT.



It was a packed venue but the crowd was very mellow and quiet during his set, especially the first several songs. I swear you could have heard a pin drop as there were so many silent moments. It was almost eerie. But we were rapt.

This was a show I didn't mind going to alone. It felt very intimate and special and I think if I'd dragged someone there with me who wasn't a Destroyer fan already that would've lessened the experience somehow.

I'm a little sad I missed Pink Mountaintops who opened.  But when I go to shows alone, I try to time it so I show up just as the headliner is about to start.  This reduces the amount of time of awkwardly standing alone, wondering if I should get one beer, playing with my phone between sets to avoid speaking to strangers.

Although, honestly, half the audience of Destroyer were older guys who showed up alone.  I wouldn't have stood out at all.

Mind blowing similarities

This nearly 40 years old (!!) Brian Eno song came on my Spotify radio and I thought it was a new Surfer Blood track.

Brian Eno "Needle in the Camel's Eye" (1974)

They sound really similar right??

Surfer Blood "Swim" (2010)


Rock and roll is still alive my friend.

Cut Copy

Totally digging these guys lately, which is awesome because I'm going to see them live in a few weeks!
 
CUT COPY // TAKE ME OVER from RYAN PATRICK on Vimeo.





By the way, Alexander Skarsgard, I appreciate your nice work in this video. And by work I mean lack of shirt.

Check out their new album

In my head today

I'm obsessed

I broke down and committed to the $5/month unlimited no-ad version of Spotify.  I'm loving it.  

Here are some playlists I've put together, some of them are old and may have posted here already:

Post MusicFestNW

Portland hosted MusicfestNW (MFNW) last week. It was like a baby SXSW, with shows happening every night in various bars and clubs around town. A $150 all-shows wristband and a bike to get around and I was good to go.

Since I've only lived in Portland for 2 months now, it was a great opportunity to explore some different neighborhoods and music venues. The wristband made it so I wasn't tied down to one show in particular, so I got to hop around a bit if I wasn't into the opening band.

Oh, and in Portland, when you ride down Burnside to catch a nerdy electro rap band play at the log-cabin themed hipster bar The Doug Fir, you might pass an outdoor movie screening of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome along the way. Because Portland.




Bands that met or exceeded my high expectations:

• Austra @ Star Theater - amazing. mesmerizing.
• Surfer Blood @ Star Theater - fucking killed it.
• Thao with the Get Down Stay Down @ Pioneer Square - adorable and sounded perfect.
• The Thermals @ Mississippi Studios - AHH SO FUN
• Neko Case @ Pioneer Square - love her so much. sounded so great and hilarious banter between songs too.

Animated gif photobooth thing at Mississippi Studios.
I was trying to fix my hair at the last second

Bands that I didn't know what to expect and were pretty good:

• Vice Device @ Star Theater - inner goth girl satiated
• On an On @ Roseland Theater - good stuff
• AgesandAges @ Star Theater ...I will get these last two confused and refer to them collectively as  "somethingorothers"

Meh:

• Deerhunter @ Crystal Ballroom -- The band actually sounded great, but weird opener and hated the venue.
• Animal Collective @ Pioneer square  -- Not sure how but they sounded terrible. I was so disappointed. Not really a fan of their latest album, so that and an echoey outdoor sound system didn't make for a good combination.
• The Head and The Heart @ Pioneer Square - Sounded ok, but couldn't get over the idea that they might actually be a Christian band. Just the thought of that made me not like them.

Overall it was a good festival, the concerts kept on schedule with very few lines to stand it. It also made me excited to see more live music in Portland.

Looking forward to next year!

Azealia Banks

Azealia Banks - 212

How cute is she here? So cute.

MusicFestNW study guide

I bought my wristband already and have spent the past few days planning my schedule for MusicFestNW, kind of a mini SXSW in downtown PDX the first week in September.

I made a Youtube playlist study guide of the bands I want to see, embedded below. (I hope you're using adblock.)

Not sure I'll get to see all of these bands as there are some hard decisions to make...

This song is 10 years old

Caesars : Jerk It Out

New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream

"The Doors" cover the Reading Rainbow theme song

Jimmy Fallon is talented!

Just a song

Envelopes "Sister in Love" from 2006 album Demon

Cat Power!

Look at her hair!

RAWR BEARCLAWS

Fun behind the scenes look at cartoon voice overs with Amber Nash, who provides the voice of Pam on "Archer."

I liked this a whole lot.

New Daft Punk

I approve.

Sad cat diary

Cats are so funny.  I always wanted to teach my cat to use IM.

This is pretty great.

Who has two thumbs and is moving to Portland?

THIS GAL. Maybe I'll get back into DJing.

"I don't know what's going on. Everybody in Portland's turning into a DJ."

OMG I love Portlandia but their skits are dragged out waaaay too long.

Nina Nastasia - Cry, Cry, Baby

Sometimes when I'm having a bad day I put on a good song and I'm just like "Oh yeah.  Music.  Music makes me feel better." 

Even sad songs make me so happy.

(Love her.) 

Lil Dicky - Ex-boyfriend

NSFW but so funny and good.

There is a whole minute about another guys dick.



He's got another one summarizing the Lion King that's pretty great too. 

Nosaj Thing

Great video for "Eclipse/Blue" by LA artist Nosaj Thing, featuring vocals by Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead.



This song appears on his latest self-produced album, Home.

8 tracks & Spank Rock

Experimenting with different ways to put online playlists together. Just joined 8tracks.

Here's one I  made.  Major Lazer & friends.

Lazers & friends from katebot5000 on 8tracks Radio.

Favorite track that I discovered is "Baby" by Spank Rock off his 2011 album "Everything is Boring and Everyone Is a Fucking Liar" on Bad Blood records.  I like the screamy Prince vocals a lot.  Unfortunately it seems like half a song.

Davila 666

If I had a radio show I would play this. (Some potentially NSFW shit goes down near the of this video, but I wasn't really paying attention. Fair warning.)

I wrote about Puerto Rican group Davila 666 back in 2011 after I saw them at SXSW and considered them the winners.

Here's them on a rooftop, sounding awesome:

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Baby

Rainy day electro chillwave

Ganked directly from WIKI: 

Iamamiwhoami is the electronic music and multimedia project of Swedish singer-songwriter Jonna Lee

iamamiwhoami; play from john strandh on Vimeo.


Thanks, Brad!

50 alt rock songs from the 1990's

I put this together.  (More fun if you have adblock installed.)

If the embed doesn't work, try it on the Youtubes.

Music history

20/20's feature on New Wave & Punk from 1979

Mind your own business

This song is stuck in my head. That's all.



Original Delta 5 version

Being in your 20's

This post from Buzzfeed cracked me up:

What It's Like To Be A Twentysomething, As Told By “Mean Girls,” “Bridesmaids,” And “Girls”


Makes me glad I'm in my 30's because it's so totally... different... (not).

Tegan and Sara

This week I'm totally digging Tegan and Sara's latest album, "Heartthrob". (iTunes, Amazon)

Most of the tracks were produced by mega-producer Greg Kurstin, and the album in turn sounds very polished with a heavy synthpop influence. Less edgy than their earlier stuff, maybe, but there's a handful of GREAT songs on here including the first single "Closer" (below), and my other favorites "I Was A Fool" and "Shock to Your System."

Besides, Tegan and Sara are just so cute!




Here's an interview they did with Andy Samberg, I love how they gently let him know that he's not really their type.

Major Lazer featuring Amber of Dirty Projectors

The song "Get Free" is featured on Diplo/Major Lazer's newest album "Free The Universe," which should be released any minute now.

F&@%ing Fountains!

This guy knows what's up. I feel like I'm just like this when I go to Vegas.



This is Greg Benson, a comedian/actor/writer/director aka Youtube star. He has a similar video called F&@%ing Cruise Ship which still cracks me up.

Japandroids

I didn't listen to much new music in 2012, but this is probably one of my favorite tracks.  

"The House That Heaven Built" from Japandroids

Their album "Celebration Rock" on Polyvinyl Records is pretty great.

Julie Klausner in "The Cat Whisperer"

Julie Klausner cracks me up.

"I'm the cat whisperer. I whisper shit to cats. No cat is too much for me to handle. I tell cats all kinds of fucking secrets. You think you can do it?  Fuck you, you're wrong."

The Cat Whisperer (Ep. 1) - watch more funny videos

Watch Episode 2 and Episode 3.