Bonnaroo 2008 Friday (Day 2): The Sun, The Fiery Furnaces, The Free Beer Tent; This Is Why I'm Hott

Friday morning started about 4 hours after Thursday night ended for me with the sun making things too uncomfortable for me to sleep late. I grabbed some breakfast and got an early start on the day. I got to the media area to do some blogging and listen to the media orientation speech. They laid out everything we could and couldn't do, and none of it really seemed to effect what I'm doing. I don't have all access, but it seems like there are lots of artists in the media area doing interviews and such, so that has been really cool. I gave the guitarist from Minus The Bear some daps before catching some shows.

First up was The Fiery Furnaces. They did a set that was very similar to the set they did at The Variety Playhouse earlier this year, except this time they had a thimble player to make it a 5 piece. It was extremely tight and heavily weighted by Widow City songs, which I love. At some point a cardboard cutout of Eleanor made its way into the crowd, followed by other cardboard cutouts that I thought at first were the rest of the band, but then I saw one of them was Bradford Cox and realized they were from the Converse ad.



After that I stuck around for the first half of Minus The Bear's set and they were pretty good but I felt like the Langerado set I caught earlier this year had a little more energy or something. Next I went to see Tegan And Sara. I watched them butcher one of their own songs about 5 different ways and decided that I wouldn't waste any more of my time with them. Instead I set up earlier at the Sonic Stage to catch the second Fiery Furnaces set of the day. This time they were a 4-piece with Matthew playing a guitar instead of keyboards for the entire set. They dug deeper in this completely different set even taking requests at the end. This band is just so phenomenal and I can't get enough of them. Bonus to this set, Beatle Bob was there doing his crazy dancing backstage. I really need to find him and interview him.











After that I went backstage to interview Royal Bangs. They were chilling out in the hidden free beer and liquor tent backstage, which was a festival changing discovery. I hung out with the Royal Bangs dudes for a little while and video taped it, so expect to see that very soon. They seemed really cool, and probably the thing that I enjoyed most about the interview was their answer to my "What do you think about the state of music and the music industry?" question, which almost word for word reflected my own opinions.

When they left to catch the very end of !!!, I stuck around and started abusing the keg back there. I spent a few hours chugging beers and stalking the Fiery Furnaces as they did interviews for more reputable journalists. After getting properly "festivalized", I met up with my ATLiens and watched some of Willie Nelson. I guess it is cool to say I have seen him now, but that was about all I enjoyed about it. Along with the Bonnaroo masses, we headed to the What Stage next to see Chris Rock. I lost my entire group on the way there and caught his routine stranded by myself. Chris Rock is one of my favourite comedians, but the set seemed lacking. I feel like ever since he started doing Everybody Hates Chris, which I like, he has gotten a lot more restrained and sort of falling back on his typical sorts of jokes. But even a lackluster Chris Rock routine is pretty damn funny.




As the rain that had been looming all day finally broke loose, I opted to go back to camp instead of catching Metallica. It seemed like that was a fairly popular sentiment as the line getting out of the stage area was longer than the one to get in. As I extended my drunk rally, sleep deprivation finally caught up with me and I passed out early. I would have really liked to catch some of the My Morning Jacket set, but I didn't wake up in time.

Now well rested, It's time for an intense day and a long night of music.

Photos: Holy Fuck, The Fiery Furnaces, Super Furry Animals on 1-30-08 @ Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA

Holy Fuck










The Fiery Furnaces














Super Furry Animals

Humpday Randomnimity

Tonight is for this:



Radiohead is coming to Atlanta! Also, In Rainbows debuts those chart things at number one.

The Mars Volta have made an adventure game called Goliath The Soothsayer to promote the new album out in a few weeks (I can't wait!). Check it out.

Black Lips are doing a free show:



Black Lips " Veni Vidi Vici":



Justice is going to be in Orlando, Fl, but not Atlanta. Kinda lame.

Caribou is also skipping Atlanta, but will be in Athens, Ga on April 2nd and then they are doing 5 Florida shows.

Man Man also picks Athens over us on March 8th. They have a new album out on April 8th called Rabbit Hands.

Vampire Weekend will be at The Earl on March 9th. Video:



Blitzen Trapper will be at The Drunken Unicorn on March 20th.

The Coathangers are releasing a new 7" in March.

Jose Gonzalez will be at The Variety Playhouse March 2nd.

Bill Callahan (Smog) will be at The Red Light Cafe on February 25th.

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks (which now includes Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney on drums) have a new album called Real Emotional Trash coming out on March 4th and will be at The Variety Playhouse March 26th.

Black Mountain and Blood On The Wall will be at The Earl on February 15th.

The Black Keys have a new album, Attack & Release, produced by Danger Mouse out on April 1st.

The big labels are shying away from DRM.

Creative Loafing interviews Yo La Tengo, who will at The Variety Playhouse Saturday night.

Barack Obama is chatting with hip-hop heads like Jay-Z and Kanye West.

Frank Black has a new release out in March.

Morrissey is trying to do a show in Iran.

You can stream the new Xiu Xiu album out January 29th on their myspace. New Vid:



Cool Silver Jews interview here.

Trent Reznor talks sales numbers from the Saul Williams Niggy Tardust album release experiment.

Review of Jon Brion's NYE show here.

New Thurston Moore video:



Eddie Vedder "Guaranteed":



Iron And Wine "Boy With A Coin":



MGMT on Letterman:



The Fiery Furnaces "Duplexes Of The Dead":

Get Your Tickets Now!

Sleo just picked up our tickets to some of the hot 2008 shows. At Variety Playhouse they said that the Explosions In The Sky show in April is about to sellout, so if you want to go, act now! I'm sure the Yo La show in a few weeks will sellout too, so jump on it. And don't forget the trifecta of Super Furry Animals, Fiery Furnaces, and Holy Fuck!

Explosions in The Sky : So Long, Lonesome (Eluvium Mix)


Fiery Furnaces : Ex-Guru:

Dethklok Free Show Tommorrow Night! Explosions In The Sky, Fiery Furnaces, Holy Fuck, Super Furry Animals Next Year!

There are so many concert announcements going on right now it's hard to keep up. The fictional band Dethklok from the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse will be playing at Center Stage Thursday night. The first 450 people in line get in the show. Thanks to It Covers The Hillsides on the heads up. Get a taste:



Explosions In The Sky are returning to Atlanta April 13th, this time at The Variety Playhouse. Here's 22 minutes of EITS bliss:



And what promises to be an amazing show, Fiery Furnaces, Holy Fuck, and Super Furry Animals are all playing a show together at The Variety Playhouse on January 30th. Super Furry Animals are dropping a new album on January 22nd, The Fiery Furnaces' Widow City from earlier this year is one of the year's best, and I've been jamming the new Holy Fuck album, LP, like crazy lately. It is some top tier psychedelic dance music. Check it:

Holy Fuck : LP : Royal Gregory


Holy Fuck : LP : The Pulse

Monday Mash-Up

Here's a snippet of that new, new Outkast:

Da Art of Storytellin' Part 4


Cool shows I recommend checking out this week:

Tuesday:

MJQ CONCOURSE: aesop rock, black moth super rainbow, dj signify 21+ (http://www.tightbros.net - get tickets at http://www.ticketalternative.com or at Criminal Records)

Variety Playhouse: of montreal, grand buffet

Wednesday:

DRUNKEN UNICORN: prefuse 73, voice of the seven woods, blank blue 18+ 9:00PM (http://www.thedrunkenunicorn.net - get tickets at http://www.ticketalternative.com or at Criminal Records)


The Fiery Furnaces are awesome and here's a new vid:



It looks like My Bloody Valentine is really going to do this reunion thing.

Acid Mother Temple will be at the Earl on March 20th.

New Orleans' Jazz Fest has announced a few headliners (The Neville Brothers, Tim McGraw, and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly) and some dates(April 25th-June 4th). Full line-up announcement will come next year.

The White Stripes and Beck are working together on some stuff.

I just got hipped to Next To Last Festival in Athens, Ga in a few weeks and it looks interesting.

Sigur Ros are working on another album.

See what Animal Collective are cooking up for 2008.

Some more vids:

Grizzly Bear:



Division Day:



Phosphorescent (Live at The Earl):



Castanets:



Iron And Wine covering Radiohead at Pitchfork Fest:



Soulsavers:



Akron Family:

What The Hell Am I Listening To?!?

Today's theme, IRCILFs:

PJ Harvey



Having an artist you've been a fan of for a long time drop an album that completely reawakens your fandom for that artist is such a cool thing. PJ and me go way back, and I had sort of come to the conclusion that maybe she was another victim of losing your edge as you get older and that the sort of music she used to make required a youthful angst to be phenomenal. That may or may not be true, but instead of trying to recapture her roots (Like her slightly unsuccessful attempt on Uh Huh Her), she went in a completely new direction with an album packed full of piano ballads. I was starting to doubt I was listening to the right album at first listen until I heard her sing the album title. It's like since Cat Power decided to be Wynonna Judd, PJ Harvey decided to pick-up where Chan left off after You Are Free. The results are an amazing piece of work if you don't have any pre-conceived notions of what you want to hear from her. I've been jamming it hard and you should too:

The Devil


Dear Darkness


Buy White Chalk Here

PJ Harvey Myspace


The Fiery Furnaces



Another musical act I used to be obsessed with but sort of fell off the bandwagon is The Fiery Furnaces. As much as I respect the art of Rehearsing My Choir, I could never really get into it. And I don't dislike Bitter Tea, but it didn't really do it for me either. But their newest release, Widow City, is everything i loved from this band and more. When I first discovered these guys at Coachella, I remember just being blown away by the ridiculous amount of twists and turns in the music, switching time signatures and melodies every few seconds, but still retaining a sound that contained pop sensibilities. Widow City is a return to walking between art and pop and they do it so well:

Ex- Guru


Clear Signal From Cairo



Buy Widow City here

The Fiery Furnaces Myspace

Humpday Randomnimity

The Echo Project has revealed what artists are playing which days. I also just realized Elevado is on the line-up. I've been jamming their latest release hard lately:

Elevado : This World Is On Fire : Song Of A Purple Man


There's a bunch of cool stuff going on at Islands/The Unicorns camp.

Islands : Return to The Sea : Swans (left After Death)


Somebody died at a recent Smashing Pumpkins show.

ok, here's bunch of great random tracks for today cuz that's the kind of mood i'm in:

Caribou : Andorra : After Hours


The Fiery Furnaces : Gallowbird's Bark : Tropical Ice-Land


Cyann & Ben : Sweet Beliefs : Let It Play


Eddie Vedder : Into The Wild : Society


Grandaddy : The Early Demos : You Want Me Back

Summer Slacking

It's vacation time at Ohmpark right now, but we'll be back a full strength on Monday so check back then and we'll be hitting you hard with that music related 411. A couple of quick things for now, though:

The Smashing Pumpkins will be at The Fox Theatre on October 30th. Learn all the details on tickets here. My full review on the Asheville residency will be forthcoming next week. Here's the new video for Tarantula:



Check out this awesome Grizzly Bear video.

Don't forget if you're in Atlanta this weekend, go to the Fiery Furnaces and Deerhunter show tommorrow night at The Earl.

Friday Free-Style

Battles will be at the Drunken Unicorn June 15th.

The Fiery Furnaces will be at the Earl on July 7th. Here's a vid:



June 1st Deerhunter, The Carbonas, Selmanaires, and The Coathangers will be playing at the Whirly Ball in Roswell, Ga. You can gain free admission to the event by going to Criminal Records and picking up a copy of the Whirlyball 7", featuring songs from all of these artists.

Modest Mouse's Eric Judy has been missing some shows mysteriously.

Jam Cruise 6 has announced its line-up. The drug-induced boatride festival lasts 5 days and leaves Ft. Lauderdale on January 4th, 2008.

Aesop Rock's new album, None Shall Pass, is due out August 28th.

The Go! Team has a new album coming out this year.

Some Smashing Pumpkins stuff got stolen and they still have no non-festival US dates.

Cee-lo is starting his own record label. Here's a vid:



Tori Amos is working on a Broadway musical.

New Order have split up again.

Marilyn Manson and Slayer will be at Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre on July 28th.

The Summer Slaughter Tour featuring Necrophagist, Decapitated, Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation, As Blood Runs Black, Arsis, The Faceless, Ion dissonance, Beneath the Massacre will be at The Masquerade on June 6th.


Here's some shows I recommend for the weekend:

Friday:

Son Volt, The High Strung at the Variety Playhouse.

Luigi, The Jupiter Watts, Parade at Lenny's.

Lady Sovereign, Matt And Kim, King Kong (Ethan Buckler from Slint) at the Drunken Unicorn.

Saturday:

The Clientele, Beach House, The Close at The Earl.

Ben Gibbord (Death Cab For Cutie, Postal Service), David Bazan at Center Stage. (Sold Out)

Cypress Hill, Galactic, Sick Puppies, The Zac Brown Band at Centennial Park.


Interviews:

• Arctic Monkeys
• Clientele
• John Vanderslice
• St. Vincent
• Wilco
• Silversun Pickups

Here's a new video from Air:



Here's a new !!! video: