Bonnaroo 2009: Wrap-Up And Final Thoughts

Now that I’ve finally gotten over my Bonna-flu, here’s one last post to talk about what I took from this year’s shenanigans. The Bonnaroo guide book talked about the weird familiarity that Bonnaroo becomes after several years of attending, and that definitely struck me this year. The place now certainly feels “like going back to the neighborhood where you grew up as a kid”. But this installment still managed to be a unique experience from every other. Outside of the hurricanes Thursday night, I think this was the best weather this festival has ever seen, and I feel the constant cloud cover really helped the energy overall stay strong through the last night. The vibe is always fun at the ‘roo, but I felt like this year there was a little extra electricity in the air with the crowd. Having Radiohead on a lineup is pretty awesome, but I think in the end this year’s event will be most remembered for having the strongest top to bottom lineup.

I think you could find a rather large collection of music journalist/blogger types that would agree that Animal Collective‘s Merriweather Post Pavilion, Grizzly Bear‘s Veckatimest, Dirty Projectors‘ Bitte Orca, and St. Vincent‘s Actor are all legitimate contenders for album of the year and Bonnaroo showcased all four artists within a matter of hours. This lead me to ponder some things and I came up with a few observations. First, Brooklyn, New York is the undisputed new music mecca right now. Atlanta has some cool stuff going on, but Brooklyn is the center of the universe. Also, I think harmony, particularly vocal harmonies, is a musical concept that is going to be on a hott trend for the years to come. Complexity, nuance and classical notions of musicianship are also concepts that I believe to be on the upward swing right now in the direction indie pop music is taking. There are plenty of exceptions and even healthy pushback against these trends in this “any flavour you like” internet world, but there is a renaissance going on and Bonnaroo is one of the best places to get a real glimpse at it.

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My Favourite Songs of 2008: Ohmpark Mixtape #6

So here is a playlist comprised of many of my favourite songs from the year. Not all of my favs are here, but I think all of the essentials are in it. I tried my best to build this as a flowing playlist more than just a collection of songs, so the order and even some of the selections reflect that. I really need to do more mixtapes. Based on Hypemachine/elbow popularity, I know everyone loves that Fleet Foxes song, but I decided instead to treat you to a better song from one of the bands that FF is ripping off. Anyways, here is an hour and half of the best songs of 2008. Jam them hard while you can, because in about 3 days they aren’t hip anymore:

Islands : The Arm
Sigur Ros : Gobbledigook
Atlas Sound : Recent Bedroom
Kaki King : Life Being What it Is
MGMT : Weekend Wars
Department of Eagles : No One Does It Like You
Animal Collective : Water Curses
Antony And The Johnsons : Another World
Mount Eerie w/ Julie Doiron & Fred Squire : Voice In Headphones
My Morning Jacket : Touch Me I’m Going To Scream pt. 1
Beach House : Used To Be
Portishead : The Rip
Summerbirds In The Cellar : Now We Are Ugly Inside
Hot Chip : One Pure Thought
M83 : Kim & Jesse
Bon Iver : For Emma
Plants And Animals : Guru
Destroyer : Shooting Rockets (From The Desk Of Night’s Ape)
Deerhunter : Nothing Ever Happened
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead : The Betrayal Of Roger Casement And The Irish Brigade

Bonnaroo 2008 Thursday (Day 1): Festies Ain’t Easy, But They Sure Are Fun

Going to a festival is not all fun and games. The live concert experience is never assured bliss. There are so many external factors that could go sour. A huge fest like Bonnaroo has an army of these possible setbacks. But sometimes overcoming the odds and the elements can be the recipe for an unforgettable weekend.

So after hanging out in Manchester a little bit Wednesday night, I rode back into town in the morning to pick up my press credentials. I then went to my hotel to await the arrival of my caravan of ATLiens. One of the cars in our group had a road cone fly up and crack their windshield in Chattanooga, forcing them to abandon their vehicle to repair and then squeeze their gear and bodies in other folks’ already tightly packed rides. The slight travel delay here would seem insignificant compared to the traffic jam we would wait in shortly after.

Now I’m from Atlanta so traffic isn’t new to me, but sitting still on the side of the interstate for 5+ hours is just never that fun. This would actually be the longest I’ve ever waited to get into the ‘roo. As is typical, everyone gets out of their cars and socializes on the side of the road to pass the time, and then as soon as the line starts moving a bit, everyone scrambles into their rides to grab another 50 feet.


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Monday Mash-Up

March is going to be a crazy month here at Ohmpark. This week, I’m heading down to South Florida to catch Langerado. As soon as i get back from that next week, I’m flying to Austin to catch SXSW. Before coming back from that, I’m heading out to Savannah for some post-St.Patrick’s Day partying. Between all of that, postings here may get a bit erratic, but barring uncooperative Internet or getting arrested for public intoxication, I should have some hardcore coverage of the events as they happen. As soon as all of that is over, we are going to begin working on an entirely new and different layout for the site that is going to be really cool. Thanks for reading Ohmpark, and spread the word!

The Morning State album, You Know People I Know People, that they had to re-record after issues with their former label is finally seeing a release date on May 3rd. Here’s the new single:

Morning State : You Know People I Know People : Oh Yeah

Outkast‘s Andre 3000 is planning on putting out a solo album this year.

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Live Photos, Videos, And Review: Yeasayer, MGMT, Morning State (1/18/2008) The Earl

Before throwing down at 1084 for our party last week, we went down to The Earl to catch this great show. First up was Atlanta’s own Morning State. They had just recently recorded their first full-length album and the label they had just signed to went under, so they had to go and re-record the entire album with Asa Leffert (Dark Meat, The Pendletons, The Whigs) in Athens, Ga so they could release it. Recording an album is a big undertaking, so I’m sure having to do the whole thing again would be frustrating, but it looks like they’ve made the most of it:

“The whole label thing sucked. It was really nice to have someone tell us that they were going to front the money for our album and release it and spend a bunch of cash on marketing it. When the label folded we had hoped to keep what we recorded but in order to do that we would have had to sign another contract and we decided it was best to walk away from that whole mess and just do it all over,” says frontman Russ Ledford. “We’re really excited to have a chance to re-make the album though and create something even better. We also have a lot of energy because of this whole situation, and I think that’ll really come out in the recordings.”

This recent show they brought it hard and I think they were the best I’ve seen them live yet:


Photo by Biggie C

Next up was Yeasayer, whose album All Hour Cymbals I’ve been jamming hard since I discovered it. The four-piece were incredible live and had so much energy on stage. The lead singer somehow cut his hand when he was jumping on his monitor and had blood running down his arm for half of the show, but it didn’t seem to phase him too much. Biggie C took some photos:


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What Up In The ATL?

This show is close to selling out and will be awesome, so go buy tickets now:

Other cool things going on:

Yeasayer : No Need to Worry

MGMT : Time to Pretend

The Lord Is My Shotgun : Get Some

Drug Rug : Winter Time

And don’t forget our One Year Anniversary party going on Saturday night!

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”:


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