Read part one (Gorge > Hollywood Bowl) and part two (Lake Tahoe > Outside Lands) first before diving into our final recap/review from Phish summer tour. Next week about this time Phish will be deep into their second set on the final night of three-night run at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Colorado, and that's a good sign that it's time to reflect on the awesome Leg II run that us lucky (!) West Coast fans were able to partake in this summer. I loved how most of 2010 the [...]
My family and I just returned from our 2 nd Annual FIRE WIRE Road Trip, where we had an opportunity to experience some of the finest family friendly destinations that Southern California and Las Vegas have to offer. We were also fortunate enough to spend some time at THE FIRE WIRE Headquarters. Our trip spanned 4 different airports, with a final overnight layover in Chicago. The most valuable piece of travel equipment that we took was our ZÜCA Pro bag . I was able to comfortably sit on my ZÜCA in the airport when there [...]
January might be a slow period for actual concerts, but we can always count on the first month of the year to be filled with festival lineup announcements. Early this morning, the promoters of the 2011 New Orleans Jazz Fest unveiled the daily schedules for both weekends of the granddaddy of music festivals. Headliners include Arcade Fire, Wilco, Kid Rock, Bon Jovi, The Neville Brothers, The Strokes and Willie Nelson. With hundreds of artists on the bill, no one does musical diversity quite like the New [...]
Every year, a bunch of sissies in short-pant velvet suits who like to skip down the streets of (insert recently-gentrified "hip" neighborhood here) touting their ironic mustaches, fair skin and perfectly coiffed hair wait with baited breath for the announcement of which bands will perform at the annual Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Much like the cast list for your old high school drama club performance of Into The Woods , the weeks and months before each lineup is posted are filled with rumors, fake-outs and endless conversations at the alternative coffee shop down the street. For some [...]
Seems like this time of year everyone is making a list of some sort. Worst this and best that. We wanted in on that action. You've been waiting, longing even, to hear our opinions, we know, it's ok. To keep it short: 2010 didn't suck. Here are Three Grown Men's favorite moments of 2010: Jonathan Kosakow's top musical moments of 2010 3. Joe Purdy – "4th of July" I stumbled upon Joe Purdy by [...]
The end of the year is a bountiful time on music blogs. If you only read these things on occasion then the end of the year is surely the best time to visit, as we all indulge in our annual roundups. It is also fair to point out that there's an over-abundance of these charts, so you have to be pretty selective before the list-fatigue sets in. We're confident that The Recommender's roundup will be easily digested with this 'Best Tracks of 20102. Last year's effort turned out to be one of the most popular posts from the [...]
The Year End List. I think you can appreciate how we approach the obligatory list that publishes in December. We don't use the words "best" for the end of the Gregorian calendar year wrap, and we don't enumerate the list. Empirically ranking albums with some sort of number designation, coupled with superlatives, really trivializes such a mercurial entity of music. So we don't do that. The Year End List is simply a reflection of albums that provided the most accurate representation of our aesthetics, embodying the songs most likely to receive rotation in the personal ghetto blaster for years to [...]
1. Grinderman Grinderman 2 Anti- (You can) Think of Grinderman as a superman in the philosophical sense; A man who lives beyond religion and morals; A man whose existence is beyond that of a common man. The grinderman also has an insatiable lust, and an animal-like thirst for blood, both of which arise during times of agitation. This is where he gets his many kicks. And, when the Grinderman gets his kicks, it's for all our benefit. Witness the mad jazz-like spasms of guitar, bass, drums and electric [...]
Solid week of music this week, if a little more sedate than the last couple of weeks. That's a good thing, mind you - I'm still trying to recover from the 1-2-3 punch of Forgetters/Guided by Voices/Greg Dulli last week. Right now it looks like I'll be the Empty Bottle on Tuesday for Henry Clay People/The Dig and Schubas on Wednesday for Avi Buffalo/New Ruins . There are several interesting options on Thursday and Friday too, but I'm gonna wait until later in the week to decide what, if anything, to see. I'm tempted to [...]
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Baby, You Got a Stew Goin'!
Chiddy Bang - "By Your Side" (Official Video)
French Graffiti Artists Videojack “N*ggas In Paris”
Gorillaz Collaborate With Andre 3000 & James Murphy On “DoYaThing”
[Review/Listen] – Die Antwoord – “Ten$ion”
