- Discovered tour of the day/week/what-have-you: Liz Phair
Liz Phair rules. A few weeks ago I watched a VH1 show called “Women Who Rocked the 90s” or something like that. (I just spent 10 minutes searching for the show, but couldn’t find it.) So much good music! PJ Harvey, The Breeders, Hole. It sent me on a hunt for all the old goodies that I’ve forgotten or never knew about in the first place. The nineties I saw in those music videos are so unmediated and nonchalant. None of this glossified Paris Hilton looking in a mirror looking at us looking at her on Perez Hilton after she emerged from Starbucks 10 minutes ago. It was just what it was. I wish I was more aware of what was going on back then, but there’s youth for you. Liz Phair might have made an appearance on the show before I started watching, but if she didn’t, she definitely deserves to be on it. Her songwriting is direct and unpretentious. Check out The Cassettes Won’t Listen cover - total gem.
Anyway, she’s on tour performing Exile in Guyville!
- Great weekend press
I just got back to the office after the long weekend to find some great press about us bouncing about the interwebs.
First of all Elisa Bray does a round up of live music related resources. I hadn’t seen some of the sites before including Drummer Hunter and Better Than the Van and they’re pretty cool. If you’re in/looking to start a band they’re worth checking out. She kindly recommended Songkick for keeping track of tours in your area. Welcome to our new visitors from The Independent! The bit on Songkick reads:
If you struggle to follow your favourite bands’ tour dates, register with new site www.songkick.com, which will inform you about forthcoming tours near you, as soon as they have been announced. They’re tackling the right market – it’s all about the live show for bands these days – and they aim to become the most comprehensive online ticket search service. For a start, it’s much slicker than www.ents24.com. Enter the names of your three favourite bands and your home town and the site will email you updates so you can be the first to know about shows. While the site is London-based, it covers cities and towns across the UK and is most useful to fans living where bands’ tours are less frequent. The site also recommends other gigs that match the genres of your chosen three top acts.
There’s also been some great coverage of the Songbird/Songkick tour dates partnership including, Ars Technica, Digital Media Wire, Extendably, Pocket-Lint and Web Monkey:
But the coolest new tool is Songkick, which lists upcoming music events for specific regions but also narrows down your list based on the artists you’ve been listening to. (via Pocket-Lint)
Finally I wrote a guest post for TechCrunch UK about hacking in the UK and a need for more developer related meetups. We’re running our next London Hacker Meetup on September 4th - would be good to see any developers reading this there!
- Songbirdkick, Songkickbird, a beautiful friendship has begun.
This week, Songbird released their beta, which comes bundled with a Concert add-on brought to you by us! We’ve been dreaming of a music player integration that will show you which artists are on tour as you’re playing music, and they’ve done it. Click on the “get tickets” button or the ticket icon and it sends you straight to Songkick to buy tickets then and there. How many times have you been listening to an awesome song and thought to yourself, “This band is amazing, I wish I could see them live! I wonder when they’re coming to town?” Now all that work is done for you. Although this doesn’t help me, since I’m listening to Biggie right now, who rules, but is not coming to a city near me any time soon.
Also, just to brag a big. Ars Technica calls this an “impressive feature.”
- Songkick is Website of the Week in The Sun
Ok I’ll be the second Songkick blogger to apologise for our lack of recent posts. We’re working like crazy on some new stuff so look forward to some product news hopefully next week.
In the interim I have some exciting news: we were chosen as Website of the Week in The Sun!
Here’s a scan of the article (it hasn’t made it online yet):
Thanks AB - you made our day!
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We haven’t been blogging. Or by “we,” I mean ME. Sorry. So to make up for it, a glut of pictures from Roskilde Festival last month.
Two types of Slayer fans
Bet you can’t tell who would win in a fight.
MGMT
This dude was holding up a fox on a platform the whole time. I have no idea why.
I still maintain, they are Flaming Lips, Jr.
LUPE
The man was wearing the best boots EVER.
Kings of Leon (or as some say, “dad music”)
My Bloody Valentine
I waited in the special line to get into the front area of the audience. (The entire festival is so considerately planned, so Scandinavian. They hand out cups of water during the show so you don’t get dehydrated!) My Bloody Valentine ended with a massive PLANET of noise for at least ten minutes. It was completely disorienting. Deafening noise, like an airplane never quite achieving takeoff, for a stretch of time. It was remarkable–like a violent, foricible cleansing of the palate.
Jay Reatard
It was me and a handful of belligerent adolescent stoner boys all heckling the chubby older stoner boys on stage. Every show has a cheesy announcer come on stage and announce the act and ask questions like, “You guys having fun yet?” The poor girl who told l the crowd that the show was over got booed and absued. And then Jay came back on stage and played a few encores after his buddy mooned the crowd. I haven’t had that much fun in a long time.
- I’m a Reatard, You’re a Reatard
Working hard to dirty garage punk is the best. Manic, frantic drums and filthy guitars. I should tell you guys all about how I got into Radiohead after all (remember my wheelchair debacle, oh loyal readers?), but I’ll save that for another post along with my high-quality concert photos. (I saw kids with camera phones taking better pics than me. Sheesh.)
Ian and I are going to the Roskilde festival in Denmark this weekend, and I am SO STOKED to see Jay Reatard (as well as Radiohead, My Bloody Valentine, Jay-Z, Lykke Li, Lupe, Battles, Band of Horses, Holy Fuck, Yeasayer, Mogwai…must I go on!?). This summer’s amazing festival season has made all of us resolve to handle festivals better on our site.
Anyway, sorry for the zero-content post. I know you guys come here for the free music anyway.
- Discovered tour of the day/week/what-have-you: Stevie Wonder
So I’m gonna try a new type of post, where I’ll write about artists I’m really digging who happen to be on tour, and who I JUST DISCOVERED are on tour, the very minute before I write the post. (Perhaps this occasion is interesting to no one other than me.) Running a live music site has made me totally cocky — I think I have my finger on the pulse of every worthy artist on the road and when people try to tell me so-and-so is on tour, I immediately make that snoring sound in my brain because, duh, I already knew that.
Every once in a while I’ll discover (or rediscover) a band or singer who totally knocks my socks off (all over again), and I’ll check our own site and be like, “WOAH. They’re on tour!” That moment of discovery reminds me of the selfish purpose Songkick served in the first place. We wanted a site that would aggregate all the concert info in one place and make it really easy to find. It can be easy to forget that as you’re arguing whether to make something a button or a link in the day-to-day.
My ex-boyfriend introduced me to Stevie Wonder. He’s really knowledgeable about the good old classics,and has a really anal connoisseur’s knowledge–this album recorded in that studio, with this equipment, produced by this guy, during that era of the musician’s life, which was annoying and impressive at the same time. Stevie Wonder’s Songs in they Key of Life is one of his desert island discs. When I learned that, I was like, “What? The blind guy with cheesy beads in his braids who plays on Sesame Street?” See, I’m naive and uneducated, and have a total dilettante’s depth of knowledge. I like what I like and sometimes I get obsessed and find out more and sometimes I don’t.
Well, yes, Stevie Wonder is the smiley guy with braids. But his songs have a sheer exuberance and generosity that shame me for every meager and ungrateful thought I’ve ever had. I’ve been listening to my iTunes on shuffle all day, when he came along, I didn’t even recognize who sang the song (again: ignorant dilettante), but I thought, “WOAH this song is amazing. Who is this?” Lo and behold, it was Stevie. Next thought: “Beads, braids, is he still alive?” (You would like a stream of consciousness of my every day, wouldn’t you?)
Not only still alive, but touring my friends. Sadly, not coming to London, but those of you in America are lucky. See his tour dates.
Stevie Wonder - I Was Made to Love Her (mp3)
Stevie Wonder - Joy (Takes Over Me) (mp3)
- Silver Jews at ULU, May 29, 2008
I went to see the Silver Jews play two years ago in San Francisco, only to leave before they ever came on. I was turned off by an unbearable opening act and a never-ending wait time between sets. (No, live music is not always magical. Sometimes you’re not ready for it or it’s not really what you hoped, and the disappointment can be numbing.)
So I was grateful for another chance to see them play live at ULU. The Silver Jews are one of those bands whose discovery is an undeserved surprise gift that makes you wonder what other hidden, bespoke treasures might be lurking out there in the musical cosmos. I had never heard of them, but a very dear musical friend of mine put them on a mix CD. I listened to them for the first time with absolutely no pre-hype bias, and I still remember my startled reaction to its poetry.
I usually hate comparisons between lyrics and poetry. It’s close, but not the same; it’s so easy to lend weight to a description of a song by calling it poetic. But Dave Berman’s lyrical economy completely startled me with its allusive grace.
I enjoy shows most when I know the songs I’m going to hear. When I’ve played them repeatedly, turning over the emotions at different times in my life. Some great songs are inextricable from my memory of certain periods of my life, and The Silver Jews punctuated a time when I was desperately waiting for something to happen to me.
But these familiar patterns achieve sudden, new saturation by the live performance. That’s what it is for me, at the heart of it. I like going to shows when I barely know the band, when it’s something new and fun, when it’s something I’m not really committed to, but the shows that are formative (if you’ll let me be dramatic) are the ones where I come prepared. And to see a living, sweating human being sing something that is at the same time so painfully mine–well, I guess that’s the rare occasion when I shed my usual misanthropy and feel like two people who don’t know each other really can share something special just by being human, living life, and feeling the same things.
When the band stepped on stage, they opened with two of my favorite Silver Jews songs ever: “Random Rules” and “Trains Across the Sea.” Dave Berman was wearing a gray, vintage-looking blazer with a dark black piped pattern, paired with a hot pink dress shirt. He looked like spent Vegas lounge singer who had lost it, wearing the weird, plastic glasses of your eighth-grade science teacher, greasy combover and all.
I think he was wasted. I don’t know. Either way, he was captivating. He never played guitar, but instead availed himself of the mic stand as though it were a weapon, a stave, or a baton, swinging it around to his band members as they played their solos. As he swayed around, abruptly sat down, and leaned on the precarious mic stand, there was a strange reliable control in his movements. So instead of an uneasy anticipation, you felt you were watching a pro who would never fall.
Silver Jews - Random Rules (mp3)
Silver Jews - Trains Across the Sea (mp3)
- Interview with Bigstereo (San Francisco blogger)
San Francisco blogger: Bigstereo
He throws what I’ve heard are the best parties in SF!
Name? Rchrd Oh?!
Age? 26 going on 21
Occupation? DJ/blogger/promoter
How long have you lived in SF? I’ve been living in San Francisco since 2004, but feel like I was born here.
Favorite SF venue and why? I have way too many. It depends on the mood I guess. For people-watching 222 Hyde. For rock/indie shows, The Fillmore. For electro and dance stuff Mezzanine. For gaying out, Aunt Charlie’s. And finally, for a good-ass margarita, the Beauty Bar.
How long have you been blogging? For three years, if you count it as professionally.
How did you choose the name of your blog? It was Travis’ idea. It’s a song by Tracy and the Plastics
First concert? Smashing Pumpkins. I went alone cause the boyfriend I had then ditched me to sell the ticket for the drug money. Yeah that relationship didn’t last very long.
Most recent concert? Green Velvet. But is it really a concert if it’s a DJ? Probably not. [This is a question we debate all the time here at Songkick! What do you guys think?]
Most memorable concert? Why? Add N to (X). I saw them twice, and both times have been my favorite. They are the best band ever, and if they ever get back together for one show…fuck it they will get back together for one show and I will be DJing it. They’re amazing and all that noise makes every hair and cell in your body dance.
Most disappointing? Why? I’m so not gonna burn my bridges–you know I’m a promoter right? Geez. I can tell you that it involved a really good band that didn’t think being sober meant anything, and they left half way.
Dream line-up? Pulp, Add N To X, the old Rolling Stones, and Velvet Underground in the day.
What song would you cover if you were on stage? I have so many songs that seem like a good idea to cover, and then I realize I can’t compete with the original, so I would have to choose a not-so-well-known B-side or something. I really like the song “M” by The Cure, but how could I make that into a dance song?
- Jens Lekman and Bon Iver at the Scala
Last week Anthony and I caught Jens Lekman at The Scala. It was the 2nd time I’ve seen Jens - I blogged about my first Jens gig in Uppsala here, and seeing the same guy in the space of 6 months got me thinking about some things I love about live music that keep me coming back for more and more.
1. being starstruck. I rarely get that feeling, but at gigs I get it a lot. I’ve been blown away by Jens both times I’ve seen him, he’s just so charming.
2. something unique. I love the fact that his Scala show was totally different to his Uppsala show - when a musician is on the road for months on end, it still amazes me how much character and individuality each gig can have. (There are of course exceptions - I remember seeing De La Soul twice in 6 months back in the day and getting a practically identical show both times, even down to the jokes they told between songs.)
3. liking everyone a bit more. I don’t know if you have this feeling - but sometimes you can walk into a gig and the people in the queue look so different to each other and to you. It’s nice to feel that everyone from the indie kids to the people in suits straight from the bank, to the old guys with pints of ale are all there because they love Jens.
4. falling in love with a song for the first time. This time for me it was “Your arms around me”. I’d heard it before - but this time I just stood there blown away by it, wondering why I’d been so late to the party. It’s below for your listening pleasure.
5. the backstory. I LOVE it when artists tell the story behind a song when introducing it. Jens spent 5 minutes telling us the entire story to A Postcard to Nina before finally launching into it. He made me want to get on a bus to Berlin.
6. intimacy. The Scala felt just the right size for Jens right now - packed out, but still intimate. On a random note I love the way they didn’t stop people from standing on the steps, it felt like there were people on every square foot of space, but still enough room to dance.
7. An awesome support act. More about Bon Iver in another post - enough to say that I’ll be listening to a lot more by him over the next month, and catching his next London gig.
After the gig I mentioned to Anthony a few of the things off this list and he added another great one:
8. When you really appreciate the effort they’ve made to be there. Whether it’s traveling miles or getting over a fear of performance, sometimes you really feel incredibly grateful they’ve decided to play for you. He said he’d felt that really strongly recently at a Cat Power gig.
Those are some of the reasons I love live music, why do you?
Jens Lekman - Your Arms Around Me
