Humpday Randomnimity

So first, let’s break down the Bonnaroo line-up:

First, I think it’s hilarious that NME and the AP totally got punked and reported that Led Zeppelin is headlining. Since they deleted their mistake, here it is immortalized:

The weirdest thing is that NME had announced earlier in the day that they would be announcing a “surprise headliner” at midnight, so the conspiracy theorists out there are going to believe there is a chance that they will add Led Zeppelin late after tickets go on sale (because LZ would instantly sell out the fest), to give the ‘roo loyalists a easy shot at tickets first. Considering everyone denied Metallica was playing when that rumour broke earlier, it is certainly possible but doubtful.

So, Metallica. Hmmmm. I’m just going to say that i think they are being a little risky with some of their line-up choices for a rare fest with an almost completely non-violent history. It will be an interesting experiment to see how that crowd does, but I’m a bit pessimistic on that front. Although, there have only been a handful of ‘roo headliners over the years that have been really awesome in my opinion, so it’s not the worst thing to me (plus now i can get a nap Friday night between the day acts and the late-night acts). It’s the smaller acts that I always like best anyways. Plus, Pearl Jam is really great live. Also, I’m just gonna say, Jack Johnson isn’t necessarily bad, but I can think of like 100 better headliners off the top of my head, and he has to headline both Coachellas and Bonnaroo? Coooooooooooome ooooooon.

Regardless of all that junk at the top of the list, there is a lot to be excited about. Sigur Ros is probably the biggest for me since I love them and have yet to see them. The other names I’m going to be excited to see include Iron & Wine, Broken Social Scene, Mastodon (ATL represent!), !!!, The Fiery Furnaces, Jose Gonzalez, Minus The Bear, Battles, and The Sword. Things I’ve seen a million times that are still pretty cool to catch again: Phil Lesh, My Morning Jacket, The Allman Brothers, Death Cab For Cutie, Ben Folds, and Dark Star Orchestra. Others I’ll probably check out if nothing great is going on include Kanye, Robert Plant, Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Talib Kweli, Gogol Bordello, Rilo Kiley, Tegan & Sara, Vampire Weekend, and Black Kids.

Overall, its decent but not their best line-up. I’m still going cuz I love this fest. A Mars Volta addition would really set it off though.

Speaking of The Mars Volta, Pitchfork finally reviewed The Bedlam in Goliath, and while they still gave it a terrible score, they finally back-tracked a tad bit from the absolute hate they have for this band and moved to a more “well we don’t like them, but I can see why others do and they are awesome in certain ways we don’t put much value in” position (I’m paraphrasing here). While I appreciate the sentiment, they still laid down some serious presumptuous elitism. Like when the ‘fork makes claims that TMV championing prog-rock (or as i would put it, innovating a musical epistemology built on innovation) “couldn’t be more averse to real progress in rock music”, it just makes me realize how one-dimensional they are in their music taste and while they have been a huge driving force of this current music revolution going on, they are sometimes missing the point. In essence what is going on is about diversity, not about a singular idea or sound. When you value 3 LCD Soundsystem songs that are nice on the dancefloor surrounded by a ton of boringness and repetition over an album where they make every single second on it count, well, I’m just not gonna ever jump on that bandwagon.

Ok, now I am gonna get all pitchforky on you and serve up a glass of haterade. I bought the new The Selmanaires, Anna Kramer, and The Whigs albums a couple of weeks ago. I’m a cheerleader for the local acts as much as the next person, but while I think these are all fine albums in their own right and I know the rest of the Jo-Ja big dawgs are touting them endlessly, these are far from the best acts or albums that Georgia has to offer. They are all copycatting played out styles, and bringing nothing new to the table. There are sure to be plenty of people who will genuinely love these, but I like a bit of innovation, a touch of avant-garde, an artist who takes chances, I like something unique and different, and I hear none of that on these albums. The Selmanaires seem to be only one of these three that I believe have real potential to be something special, but I always find myself thinking about 25% of what they do is amazing, and the other 75% is totally uninteresting. I understand that they are like a library of styles and that they are making very deep musical references, but they don’t bring a new perspective to their reference points except sometimes they water them down. They sound like a history book to me. I think they just lay too safe sometimes, and if they really went for it they could be great. Again, The Air Salesman is not a bad album, but if I were to compare it to other ATL albums I consider great, like, I don’t know, an Untied States album (or the new Slushco EP that is getting absolutely no press except here), I don’t think it stands up.

Ok, enough digression, here’s some news:

Iron & Wine and Califone will be at the Variety Playhouse on April 14th.

The Breeders will be at The Loft on June 13th.

Modest Mouse are working on an EP.

Click here to read the entire post…

Ohmpark’s Top 50 Best Albums Of 2007

2007 was an incredible year of music and there were so many albums I really liked that didn’t make this list. I noticed that most of the lists I pay attention to were very similar to one another this year as opposed to last year. Also, I’ve found myself in more of a disagreeance with those lists than last year. If there is any theme to be taken out of this list, I think it’s that I feel like too many great albums were underrated by the blogosphere elites, and that they were way in love with some albums I think are overrated. This list represents my personal assertions more so than the rest of the Ohmpark crew, but I worked hard to get every one’s opinions and influences in this thing. Feel free to comment on how much you hate or love it. I feel like every album on this is an essential one from last year, so go listen to some new music:

Click here to read the entire post…

Torrent Of The Day: Caribou (10/10/2007)

I haven’t talked about Caribou‘s new album Andorra enough, so here’s a torrent of recent show to check out, cuz these guys are good:

Caribou 2007-10-10 Mg210 flac16

Caribou 2007-10-10 Satelite Ballroom Charlottesville, VA
recording: MG210 > M148 > P2 (acm) 24/48
Trans.: Wavlab tracked,dither, resample
flac fronted (align on SB)

Caribou Setlist
1.sandy > after hours
2.skunks
3.sundialling
4.bijoux
5.she’s the one
6.twins
8.bees
9.yeti
10.jacknuggeted
11.eli
12.melody day
13.crayon
14.barnowl

Listen to the first 3 tracks on the live recording:

Track 1

Track 2

Track 3

Caribou Myspace

It’s Echo Project Week!

For me, this is gonna be a killer week. Wednesday I’m heading up to Asheville to catch Porcupine Tree. Thursday I come back and head a little OTP for Echo Project. Then on Monday I’m heading to Birmingham to catch Earlimart. A few Echo Project details I forgot to cover is that Common got added and that Dubconscious will be playing at the campgrounds Thursday night. As excited as I am about the festival, there happens to be a ridiculous amount of great shows in the Atlanta area this weekend, so if you can’t go to Echo, there’s still plenty of great tunes to be absorbed:

Tuesday night The Brunettes and The Preakness will be at The Earl.

Wednesday night Ghostface Killah will be at Georgia Tech.

Thursday night Octopus Project and Morning State will be at the Drunken Unicorn.

Friday night offers many great options: Caribou at the Earl, Minus The Bear at the Variety Playhouse, and Portugal. The Man at The Loft.

Subtle and Sunset Rubdown at the Drunken Unicorn Saturday night is pretty sweet.

Sunday is packed out too with Ryan Adams at the Fox, Band of Horses at Park Tavern, and my pick for best show of the week, Earlimart at the Earl.

Minus The Bear : Menos El Oso : Drilling

Portugal. The Man : Church Mouth : Shade

Earlimart : Mentor Tormentor : Happy Alone

The Octopus Project : Hello, Avalanche : I Saw The Bright Shinies

Caribou : Andorra : Eli

Sunset Rubdown : Random Spirit Lover : For The Pier (And Dead Shimmering)

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

Video of the Day 2: Caribou – Melody Day

This is the first single from Caribou’s Andorra, out this week on Merge Records.