Video(s) of the Week: 3/5-3/11

Hello all!

It is that day again!

So last week's Video of the Week was The Happy Hollows "Death to Vivek Kemp", and in case you missed that, the post is below this one because this was a lazy busy week. There will also be a VotW Archive page!

This week, I have for you TWO Video(s) of the Week. Now, both videos are for the same song, but are completely different videos and versions of the song. So, this week, we have:

OK Go "This Too Shall Pass"

Now, I am going to assume they really love this song because there are two videos for this song that took a while to make. We'll start with the first one. Embedding is disabled by request on the video so I'll just link it here.

The first version of the video was directed by Brian L. Perkins, who works on kids cartoons for Nick Jr. and has directed a couple other videos for OK Go, and OK Go. It features the Notre Dame Marching Band and is actually an alternate version of the song arranged for the marching band. The presentation of the video is spectacular. The development and growing marching band throughout the three minutes and fifty-three seconds of the video is amazing. It starts with the four members of OK Go in ND Marching Band attire playing the beginning of the song and it sounds very modest. They begin marching and, like any good Navy Seal, previously unseen brass and woodwinds come out of cover, adding more to and building the sound, and more members just keep adding and the sound grows. The big refrain "Let it go, this too shall pass" is then spelled out in black and white by a large number of the band, who then put the signs away and proceed to join the band into a very loud, very amazing final outro to the song. Just, watch it.


OK Go - This Too Shall Pass (Marching Band Version)

The second video is absolutely amazing. OK Go, being who they are, never cease to amaze. If you are not aware of what a Rube Goldberg Machine is (I'm sure you know what it is but may not know that is what it is called) then head over to Wikipedia and read up (I conveniently linked it for you above where it says Rube Goldberg Machine, also just then)... Now that your "aaaahhh, yeeeeessss" moment is done with, the collaborative powers of OK Go, director James Frost, who has directed many great videos like Silversun Pickups "Panic Switch" and Radiohead's "House of Cards" just to name a couple, and Synn Labs, people who have what must some of the coolest jobs ever, regardless of this being their job or not, bring you the Rube Goldberg Machine version of this video. Now, it's not just music playing while you're watching a RGM, and an amazingly spectacular one at that, but the machine had to go throughout the entire three and a half minutes of the song, not mess up or stop for any reasons, parts of the machine had to match rhythms in the song and there's a portion where part of the machine actually PLAYS part of the song. It took several months to make and a little under four minutes for the machine to go through its cycle. Enjoy this amazing video.



Check back next week for another Video of the Week!

Thanks!

5/14/09 Afternoons/The Happy Hollows/warpaint

Greetings everyone!

This is my first real post (see previous post) in a WHIIIIILE, but I just got back from a show a little while ago and want to give my brief synopsis of it.

Tonight/Last night, after sitting through traffic for about an hour in the afternoon, I finally made it to the Troubadour where I was privileged to see The Happy Hollows (again!! =]!) To be honest, they are the main reason I went to the concert, but the other two bands were very good as well.

The concert got going at about 8:30 to a barely 1/5-full Troubadour, (which, if you don't know, is a rather tiny venue, max cap. being probably in the 300s), if that. At this time, warpaint began their set. Luckily, as they began, the place started filling up a little more.

warpaint is a great 4-piece from...well...somewhere here in California. Their mostly mellow, shoegazey Indie rock was quite pleasant on the ears. Beautiful melodies, very often harmonized beautifully, produced by the two female vocalists above the 2-guitar, bass and drum (or sometimes guitar, keyboard, bass, drum and even for one song keyboard, bass, drum) very harmonious music. The band is very ambient, using a gratuitous amount of reverb on vocals and instrumentation. The drums were quite dynamic; the softs and the accents were delivered so well, that it helped a lot with the outer shape of the songs. Overall, warpaint are a very enjoyable band who put on a great live show. Check them out here: http://myspace.com/worldwartour

Afternoons, although they were the headliners, I am going to put next. Afternoons are a septet (I don't think I've ever used that...or anyone ever uses that), or seven-piece, from here in Los Angeles. The band while performing most often has this as their instrumental line-up, two guitars, bass, keyboards, two drum kits and a vocalist/percussionist. Although, some songs do vary in instrumentation, one of the drummers also plays trumpet during some songs, and actually joins in on guitar in one. Afternoons seem somewhat like they picked up an "Arcade Fire" stencil and drew themselves out. The performance is very reminiscent of Arcade Fire's performances, not in that the sounds are the same, but the fact that there are so many people up on stage at once. Afternoons have a very great, big sound to their music. The use of two drum kits is not redundant at all, while the drummers do play unison parts at times, most of the parts polyrhythmic drum patterns that would otherwise require a couple of extra arms. The music itself is very catchy and well composed, with vocal harmonies, accompanying horn parts as well as some extra percussion such as tambourine and even a Concert Bass drum (such as those used in wind ensembles.) The songs range from somewhat heavy, fast and punchy to slow, melodic and very nice to listen to. Afternoons should be checked out by you! Here you go: http://myspace.com/afternoonsmusic

And of course, The Happy Hollows. I don't think there is much more I can say that I didn't say about them in the post about the Silversun Pickups show except, really, there is soooo much more I can say about The Happy Hollows. Once again, their talent is displayed in their music. They are such great, energetic performers that love being up there. They performed a few more songs than they did at the Glass House, including a new one or two, I can't quite recall, but it was great. Pheonomenal job by a phoenomenal band. Not to mention, they are some of the most awesome people ever. To sum it up, I pretty much just really can't wait until the next time they play a show (that I can go to). I got to hang out with The Happy Hollow peeps a bit before the show and after the show, and they are aboslutely amazing people. Also, Brian and Joe from Silversun Pickups were at the show. They are big fans of The Happy Hollows and I think it is so great to see members of established bands actually take an interest in local bands they become fans of. So, if you haven't already, check out The Happy Hollows on MySpace or Facebook. Also, you can check out my featured article on them here.

Awesome show. Amazing people. Amazing time.
That is all.

4/12/09 Silversun Pickups/The Deadly Syndrome/The Happy Hollows @ Glass House

Hello everyone.

So, last night I went to see Silversun Pickups at the Glass House in Pomona, CA, and the openers were a couple of bands that I heard the names of but had never really listened to: The Deadly Syndrome and The Happy Hollows.

I'll start with...

THE DEADLY SYNDROME

Picture courtesy of (or rather, taken from) http://stereogum.com

The Deadly Syndrome is comprised of four talented guys that make some good music. Personally, they had me dancing, and I rather enjoyed myself. I had never really listened to their music beforehand, but I was pretty pleased with what I heard. They had some very infectiously catchy songs. One that started with keyboard and had and old west saloon "piani" kinda feel, and the one right after was a straight forward disco-rock dance song that had the drummer dancing behind the kit as he was playing. They were really into it, and I enjoyed myself as much as they enjoyed themselves, but, what I couldn't help but do was keep thinking back to what had just happened before they played, and what happened was this.

THE HAPPY HOLLOWS

Picture courtesy of (or rather, taken from) http://stereogum.com

The Happy Hollows are (the beautiful and amazingly talented) Sarah Negahdari, (the also very talented) Charles "Charlie" Mahoney and (very talented as well) Chris Hernandez. To be honest, I had never really listened to their music, although after looking through their myspace pictures and seeing old flyers from the now radio airwave defunct Indie 103.1's Check...One...Two local band showcases, I can remember hearing the name, and perhaps a song on the radio. Sarah (guitars/vocals/awesomeness), Charlie (bassman/keys/cool) and Chris (drums/backing vocals/radguy) took the stage in front of an impatient crowd of people wondering when the show was going to start. Frankly, my peers, I didn't give a damn (you see what I did there?). I could wait, but wait no longer did we, because here they were, The Happy Hollows. Now, I'm not saying this personally, but generally, the way it usually goes, you don't expect much from the opening bands unless it was an established band opening for a world-renowned rock icon at Dodger's Stadium or something. It felt this way when The Happy Hollows came on. The seemingly shy Sarah took the stage, picked up her Gibson SG, as did her fellow bandmates with their respective instruments/sticks, and very timidly greeted the crowd. Her voice seemed nervous, as she asked her bandmates if they were ready. Four clicks of the drum sticks later and they explode into a song, and it's as if the band just broke out of a shell, because any even the slightest hint of any kind of nerves was automatically gone. They knew what they were doing and the knew how to do it. I, myself was dancing uncontrollably and sporadically (which may sound redundant, but that's how it went.) Every song was a hit, and there wasn't even a second of miss. Along with each songs, the talent of each member seemed to grow, until they reached the point before their closing song where the overall raw rock feel of the music took a prog-rock turn with Sarah doing some very impressive tapping riffs and the band doing chromatic passages. A fast-paced song that started at a moderate speed, got faster and later got slower and more melodic until the end, which sporadically gets quick for the last couple of seconds. I later found out this song is called Lieutenant, and it seemed proper. They closed the set with what seems like they're personal "single" Tambourine. Needless to say, I became very disappointed in myself for not having checked them out before the moment they started playing, and EXTREMELY disappointed in myself for the same reason long before they finished, in fact, only moments after they started. I easily fell in love with this band and after the show when I got to talk to them, found out they are not only an awesome band, but awesome people as well. I look forward to seeing them again a.s.a.p.

Well, that leaves me with only one band...

SILVERSUN PICKUPSPicture courtesy of (or rather, taken from) http://stereogum.com

I think this goes without being said, but they put on one hell of a show. This was unfortunately my first time seeing them and I say that because I'd rather it be one of the several times I've seen them. After roadies set up the equipment and us in the crowd waited for probably about 15 minutes, out come the Pickups. The crowd went wild as Brian, Nikki, Joe and Chris got all of their respective instruments ready to go and broke out into There's No Secrets This Year, the opening track off their sophomore effort Swoon, which comes out this tomorrow, April 14th. It was recognized and/or known by some people in the audience, I obviously recognized it. But it was only shortly after that song finished that they immediately broke out into Well Thought Out Twinkles, a particularly well-known (it's a single...), yet amazing song off of their debut Carnavas. From then on, the songs went back and forth from songs we all knew and songs off of Swoon, which I personally thought was really awesome. After a performance of Lazy Eye, their biggest single, yet still a great song (even though some people seem to think that because a certain song is a single, that takes away the song's value as a song), they went into a new song and stepped off stage, the lights still dim and roadies still tuning. The crowd chanting redundant chants for an encore, because 9.8 out of 10 bands encore when they headline (hell, some even encore several times), and the lights would have come back on, but I guess it's the energy of it all that promotes this. So the Pickups come out, play another new one and close with Common Reactor, the closing track of Carnavas. The show was amazing. Silversun Pickups were amazing. I cannot wait to check them out again, although I will most likely not be in the front on the barrier this time around for it will be this weekend at Coachella that I will be seeing them again. They bring raw energy and a more than apparent love of being on stage playing music not only for themselves, but for their fans. Even Nikki, who was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt earlier on when they arrived, dressed very formally, and beautifully, in a long, elegant red dress. Great band. Great performance due to being great performers. I will see them again after Coachella, most definitely.

Tomorrow, I am going to see TV on the Radio at The Glass House and I will have a post about that as well afterwards. Not to mention next week, when I will post three posts detailing my experience at each day of Coachella. A post for each day, because I don't feel like making one super long post, and also I feel it makes more sense that way.

peace&love
.erick.

Album Release Calendar: April 2009

Heeeeeeeeeerrrree's APRIL!

April 7th
Bat For Lashes - Two Suns
Bob Mould - Life and Times
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Vs. Children
Crystal Antlers - Tentacles
Doves - Kingdom of Rust
The Hold Steady - A Positive Rage (Live Album)
Neil Young - Fork in the Road
Telekinesis! - Telekinesis!
The Thermals - Now We Can See
Zoé - Reptilectric



April 14th
The Boy Least Likely To - The Law of the Playground
Death Cab for Cutie - The Open Door EP (Physical Release)
Ida Maria - Fortress Around My Heart
Metric - Fantasies
Prefuse 73 - Everything She Touched Turned Ampexian
Silversun Pickups - Swoon


April 21st
Art Brut - Art Brut vs. Satan
Cage the Elephant - Cage the Elephant
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe
Manchester Orchestra - Mean Everything to Nothing
Pet Shop Boys - Yes
Tinted Windows (Feat. James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins and Taylor Hanson of, well..Hanson) - Tinted Windows


April 28th
Bob Dylan - Together Through Life
Gomez - A New Tide
Great Northern - Remind Me Where the Light Is
I Monster - A Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars
Pilot Speed - Wooden Bones
Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers - Songs in the Night
Thee Oh Sees - Help
Young Love - One of Us


I put up quite a bit more this month than I did for last month.
If there are any mistakes or something I missed that you think I should put up there, feel free to let me know, either through comment or e-mail me at auralliferadio@gmail.com.