Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire is on tour!  They are not coming to Portland.  :(

Their latest album Reflektor is so good.  I'm loving this video for "We Exist"

post hardcore & straightedge

I've had "Waiting Room" from Fugazi stuck in my head all week.



Fugazi is "post hardcore" punk band from Washington DC..  The song "Waiting Room" was the first track on their self-titled debut EP, released in 1988 on their own label, Dischord.

Before Fugazi, lead singer Ian MacKaye was in hardcore punk band, Minor Threat.  They coined the term (and started the movement?) with this 1981 song off their self-titled EP, "Straight Edge."

Warpaint and regrets.

Warpaint came to town last week. I had a ticket to see them but was too sick and exhausted to make to the show. I blame my demanding work schedule and bronchial infection, but regret that I was just being lazy.

I'm sorry I missed them.  How cute are they?



Their second album, self titled, was released January of this year on Rough Trade.  I LOVED their first album, this one I haven't gotten into yet. 

Summer come soon

I made a new playlist to jam to while awaiting summer weather. Embedded Spotify playlist at the end of the post. A lot of summery, punky sounds.

Here are some video highlights.

Bleached - Dead In Your Head

Wavves - Demon to Lean On

The Orwells - In My Bed

20 Feet From Stardom

I've been watching a ton of music documentaries and just got around to seeing "20 Feet From Stardom" and it's SO GREAT. It's a documentary about backup singers, their struggles and successes with a ton of archive footage.

It won an Academy Award at the 2013 Oscars, which is unsurprising. A good documentary will make you care a lot about something you never thought about before. I'm kind of obsessed.

Here's the trailer:
 

One of my favorite scenes, when Merry Clayton talks about singing backup for the Rolling Stones in "Gimme Shelter":
 
... this clip will probably get removed for copyright issues...