December 28, 2010

I have never been a big fan of the Morning Benders. But after watching this, everything has changed. And the lead singer is too adorable for me to handle



--Gayle

My Oh My

Again, I have been failing miserably at maintaining this blog at all. BUT in light of today's events, I must post. And it can be summed up in one word:

Macklemore

He is a white, I mean Irish, MC out of Seattle and I have recently fallen absolutely head over heels for his work. A conscious rapper if there ever was one, his music has such passion that I can't help but keep his albums on repeat. I have even gone as far as to get a fucking Twitter account to follow him in hopes of hearing a California tour date announced. To my great delight, today he leaked a new track off of a hopefully soon to be released album. It's written in tribute to sports announcer Dave Niehaus and his excitement as a child infatuated with baseball is tangible in the song. With samples of Niehaus' announcing, I feel like I'm up at a Seattle Mariners game. Please read his and his producer's (Ryan Lewis) blog at Bengal Yucky and give the song a quick listen.

In other news, I got backstage access to the JFK from MSTRCRFT show at the Catalyst next month as a photographer, so expect an update after that

--Gayle

November 12, 2010

Well now it's been a while hasn't it.

In the past two months, I've been to five phenomenal concerts:

Atmosphere
The Black Keys
G. Love & Jack Johnson
Gold Motel
David Dondero & The Moaners

Above all, I would say see The Black Keys at any chance you possibly get. Their show was packed with energy, energy that is somewhat lacking on the records. If you enjoy any of the albums they have released, seeing their live show is essential. It will put their studio recordings to shame.

Atmosphere was great as well. I haven't been to a lot of hip hop shows, and the crowd was different than what I'm used to. But regardless, Atmosphere spits just as hard live as he doe on any album. He adds dimension to many of his songs by telling little stories about them.

G. Love opened for Jack Johnson at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, and, as per usual, grooved out a nice little dance set to get the crowd going. He's one of the quirkiest, most enthusiastic performers I've seen in a good while. Jack Johnson of course was fantastic. I mean, there's not much more I can say about him. He's very honest in his performance and tells very personal stories about his wife and father and is probably one of the sweetest men alive.

A couple weeks ago, I saw Gold Motel at a small venue here in Santa Cruz called the Crepe Place. Their music is so upbeat and happy that it's impossible to stand still for even a second during the set. Whether it had to do with the small bar atmosphere or it was just a representation of the band's personality, they began to take requests as they moved through the set.

Last night I saw The Moaners and David Dondero. The Moaners are a two-woman band (guitar and drums, with the occasional musical saw appearance) from North Carolina. The show was very much like their music: somewhat slow and drawling yet intriguing. There are moments of heavy energy in some of the break downs due to the open tuning on the guitar, the use of a slide, a loop pedal, and some aggressive drumming. David Dondero on the other hand, walked shyly up to the microphone with his beautiful Gibson acoustic and gave a very humble performance. I saw him several years ago when he opened for Against Me! and he is still just as shy and humble and grateful as he was then. Some of his songs are funny and frivolous, others are deep and political, and some are heart-wrenching.

In other news, I have discovered the glorious Seattle MC that is Macklemore




Also, there is a young photographer at Puget Sound who shoots lots of the Washington hip-hop scene. His stuff is pretty cool and he has quite a nice little collection of cameras

Greg Niss

--Gayle

September 11

Today was Power to the Peaceful in Golden Gate Park up in San Francisco. I got there just in time for Rebelution's set. After wading through several thousand people (I heard rumors that there were about 70,000 there total), my friend who I was with and I managed to get situated about 30 feet behind the sound stage tent. Rebelution played a killer set, albeit short. The setlist included "Attention Span," "Feeling Alright," "Courage to Grow," "Green to Black," and copious amounts of pot smoke. After that, a woman led a yoga-inspired prayer that involved the entire crowd. A different prayer was offered to each North, East, South and West. Michael Franti and Spearhead finished up the day. I had never heard their music before and thoroughly enjoyed it. Though it clearly has roots in reggae, their songs tend to be more upbeat and dance-y. We left about half way through the set to (hypothetically) beat the crowds and fought our way back through the thousands of people.

On the other side of the park, another stage was set up for DJs and I heard a few snippets as we were heading out, but nothing really noteworthy. There was a great street artist that was spray painting large canvases maybe while we were making our way to the main stage. There was also a tent that was selling pocket vaporizers, another with blown glass jewelry, and many others. Only being there for two hours severely limited our wandering amongst the tents, but if the event happens again next year, I will make a point to be there the whole day, if not the whole weekend.

--Gayle

September 8

So I've been out of town and off the grid for a few days. But really quick, I would like to present a friend of a friend's blog. She posts playlists once a month and they are wildly diverse. Some songs I hate, some songs I love, but all in all I enjoy hearing what other people are listening to.

I Wear My Chaos Well

--Gayle

September 4

Today is going to be dedicated to not so much the artist side of music, but the photography side.

I just discovered Mel D. Cole, who is primarily a hip hop photographer, working with the likes of everybody from Mos Def to Kid Cudi to Jay-Z to Diddy to Wale, doing a lot of show photography rather than promo, but he has also worked with people like Bloc Party, The Noisettes, John Mayer, Bassnectar, Eagles of Death Metal, and Vampire Weekend. He primarily shoots in black and white which I totally dig. Aside from working with bands and musicians, he has an intense set of fairly political pictures that draws attention to the increasing level of homelessness. There are several striking photos that he took of the 7th Street Fire in Jersey City, NY. Check out his work here.

The Noisettes

Cubic Zirconia

Kid Cudi

Lady Sovereign

Mos Def

All images © Mel D Cole

--Gayle

September 3 Part II

Now that I finally modified my layout to accommodate videos, I'm going to post more. The Morning Benders just released a video for "All Day Day Light." It's a nice little summer jam that lends its floating harmonies to sunny days and light breezes and sandy feet and convertibles. And if they aren't the most adorable four boys on the planet, I don't know where else to look. Please enjoy

The Morning Benders - "All Day Day Light" from Jack Ferry on Vimeo.

--Gayle

September 3

So I finally got to see the official "Fuck You" video and it reminded me a bit of The Black Keys "Tighten Up" video.

"Fuck You"


"Tighten Up"

Also, I have come to the conclusion that Florence and the Machine fail at making music videos. I watched two last night and they basically consisted of her dressed in outrageous attire, dancing like a possessed hipster at an MGMT show. 

--Gayle

September 2

In my TuneGlue pursuits, I have come across an elctro/trip-hop band called Supreme Beings of Leisure, first attracted to, of course, their name. They have a song called "Strangelove Addiction" that starts out with Eastern/Asian sounding instruments, then transitions into a song that makes me feel like I'm in a video game of all things. There is a snowmobiling game called Snow Storm that I used to play a lot when I was younger and it could be a song directly off the game's soundtrack. "Golddigger," "Calamity Jane," and "Never the Same" have a more relaxed vibe and the bubbly, trippy beats are complimented nicely by the female lead vocal. "Touch Me" returns the dance-club tempo, bringing back flashing lights and bright colors. While they aren't a band that will go into my regular mix, I think they will lend nicely to party playlists and the like.

I also found Lee Fields and the Expressions. Ahhh, nothing like waking up to an artist that celebrates and revitalizes old school R&B. In the slow jam "Ladies," he expresses, well his love for the ladies. With a voice like melted butter mixed with a little warm honey, his sadness drips hot and painful in "My World is Empty Without You." A sweet, noodley, melodic guitar hook opens "Honey Dove," a song about loss of love, sitting and waiting at the phone.

Now I'm off to TuneGlue again

--Gayle

September 1 (well barely)

This is gonna be short and sweet. It's been a long day and I'm tired. Two things

One: Music Nerdery posted the new Lupe Fiasco Song called Go To Sleep. Lupe has still got his shit on lock here. It's got kind of a low, blue, heavy feel. And it's just sort of his way of saying fuck you.

Two: TuneGlue is the best thing of my life.

--Gayle

August 31, Part II

In waiting for my iPod to finish synching, I was stumbling my ass off, at which time I discovered that which is the glorious blog Music Nerdery. I was thus introduced to Cee-Lo Green and his song "Fuck You," which, to say the least, is catchy as fuck, makes ya wanna shake your booty and jump back into the ages of Motown, soul, funk, and R&B. Music Nerdery puts it most eloquently, calling it the "greatest song in the history of the world" that consists of a "combination of the classic Retro Soul, Pop-Infused formula and upfront, harsh, keepin it 100% real witdatass lyrics dedicated to that gold digging bitch you shouldn't have fallen in love with, and her basic, trickin' ways."

Couldn't have said it better myself

August 31

So I think this is going to turn into something of a music blog. I'll talk about things I find online or shows that I see or things that I listen to at record stores or maybe even stuff that I write (yes, I write music on occasion).

Today my dad sent me a link to something that I'm sure has gotten around, but I thought it was so cool I just want to share it. It is the new Justin Bieber song slowed down to 1/8 its original speed and has a sort of post-rock, ethereal Sigur Ròs feel to it. Here is a link to the page that has both the original and slowed down version as well as an article by Max Read.

Also, I am really diggin the Fly Definition hip hop blog. They have lots of free downloads, which I'm always down for.

--Gayle

August 30

Well now.

Here I am with a new blog, on Blogspot, rather than Tumblr, out of sheer necessity for something to do. I have been abusing the newly installed internet and exploring the underground dj/hip-hop scene in Santa Cruz and the Bay Area in general. There is some good stuff around. Eliquate has a sound reminiscent of Atmosphere, though not as heavy (Let's be real, pretty hard to be as heavy as Atmosphere). Alexander Spit also has some sweet flows and a good dance party vibe. As far as djs, DJ Toxic Rainbow has some tight mixes. I'm not too far into the mixing scene and don't know the different genres of electronic music, so excuse the lack of description regarding DJ Toxic Rainbow.

I'm hoping to find some djs who go to UCSC that are willing to play free house parties and that sort of thing. I made a new friend down in Santa Barbara who spins and it was really cool to see and hear it.

DJ AZN GLO

Austin Hulak and DJ AZN GLO

The boys did a righteous job, I was definitely feelin it. 

Alright, that's all for now

Gayle