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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Bonnaroo 2009: Thursday (Day 1): Rocking Like A Hurricane

I left for Bonnaroo Wednesday and our large ATLien crew stayed at a motel in Chattanooga for the night to pregame. We drank Fat Tires by the pool in the afternoon and I got to bed much earlier than usual to get some rest for the ‘roo. Thursday I headed to the radio station where I had to pick up my press credentials. I ended up standing outside the building for over two hours before finally getting my pass and heading to the other line to wait for another two hours before getting parked inside the gate somewhere after two o’clock. I walked around the campgrounds taking in the scene as carloads of people were setting up their camps and exploring also. The rest of my group got in about the same time as I did, so I made my way to go camp with them. We then began the annual onslaught of beers and shots upon of arrival.

After becoming sufficiently intoxicated, I made my way to That Tent to see Portugal The Man. The tent was packed out full, so I had to watch the show from afar, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. They played all of their hits all the way back to their first record. They were good when I saw them at the Drunken Unicorn a year or so ago, but I thought they much better this time.

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Ohmpark Mixtape #9: Bonnaroo 2009

Right now I am totally obsessed with Bonnaroo and getting very excited about the coming week. I’ve built my annual playlist of ‘roo artists, but even if you aren’t going, some of these will be swinging by Atlanta as well. Also, I’ve dropped some fun Bonna-links below to get you in the mood too. If you are still on the fence as to whether to go to this fest or not, I suggest you go big, but if you can’t attend, you can go along vicariously with our total coverage.

Grizzly Bear : Southern Point
Dirty Projectors : What I See
Phoenix : Lisztomania
Passion Pit : The Reeling
Portugal The Man : Elephants
Animal Collective : The Purple Bottle
Tobacco : Backwoods Altar
St. Vincent : Dig A Pony (The Beatles cover)
White Rabbits : Percussion Gun
Phish : The Divided Sky

Bonnaroo website
Bonnaroo 2008 coverage
Bonnaroo 2007 coverage
Stories from Bonnaroo 2002 – 2006
Guide to Bonnaroo 2009 Schedule
2009 Weather (Updated daily)
Inforoo (The Bonnaroo message board that can answer any question you have)

I Heart Portugal. The Man

Portugal. The Man’s newest full-length, Censored Colors, sees the band yet again produce an outstanding album that is completely different than any of their previous work. Where they delved into a bluesy direction on last year’s Church Mouth, this time they decided to make a completely old school rock ‘n’ roll record. There was something about the conservative direction they embarked on with Church Mouth that put me off, but Censored Colors is a much more fascinating throwback approach. It reminds me a lot of Akron/Family’s record from last year. Portugal. The Man rips across style after stolen style, and while I’m not usually into such backward looking stuff, they just pull it off so stunningly. Their ability to be slippery and just sound like any artists they feel like while retaining their core, characteristic sound at the same time is unmatched. Check them out:

Portugal. The Man : Salt

Portugal. The Man : Hard Times

Some great videos from They Shoot Music Don’t They: “Colors”:

“And I”:

Portugal. The Man myspace

Buy Censored Colors: [MP3] [CD]

Ohmpark’s Top 10 Best EPs Of 2007

An EP, or Extended Play, is the sweet spot between a full album and a single. Typically between 10 and 25 minutes, although what has come to define the difference between EPs and LPs can sometimes be blurred. Usually EPs get a bad rap, as it carries with it connotations of being “less-than” and not good enough to be a proper album, but I like seeing variations in the art medium. There are EPs like Alice In Chains’ Jar Of Flies and Radiohead’s Airbag/How Am I Driving? that beat most full lengths. Also, EPs afford an artist the chance to showcase things that don’t fit in the context of a larger piece of work, or explore a different sound without moving fully in that direction. Anyways, I’d take an EP of nothing but the goodness over a full-length comprised mostly of filler surrounding a few good songs any day.

In 2007 I actually heard many great EPs. A few of which I’ll give honorable mentions that just missed this list that are worth-while include Joanna Newsom And The Ys Street Band, Vampire Weekend, and Black Kids‘ Wizard Of Ahhhs, of which I’ve come around a little bit on now that I’ve listened to it more. Here are the 10 most essential short-length albums of 2007:

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Best 2006 Albums Of 2007

Before I inundate you with all of my best of 2007 stuff, I want to do a little addendum to my 2006 top 50 Albums list. Over the course of this year I discovered some albums that came out last year but wasn’t aware of because I wasn’t blogging and researching obsessively then. These albums here should all have deserved to be on my top 50 list because they are all amazing. Despite being released in ‘06, though, these albums will always make me think of this year because of all the great times I had with them as the soundtrack. Pick up these essentials:

Beach House : Beach House

Final Fantasy : He Poos Clouds

Midlake : The Trials Of Van Occupanther

Portugal The Man : Waiter: “You Vultures!”

Silversun Pickups : Carnavas

Snowden : Anti-Anti

Untied States : Retail Detail

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)

July/August Wrap-Up

The Smashing Pumpkins Asheville residency show I caught may have left me wanting, but I have decided that I love Zeitgeist. I know this is certainly not an opinion that many critics are going to share, but I think there are some reasons for that. Of course Billy Corgan’s personality is going to put off some people and the lack of original members makes some people not take this work as seriously as they should. Also, I believe the album employs many sounds that are not particularly in style at the moment and there is nothing really ground-breaking about it. All of that said, this is just simply a really great album. The more familiar I become with it, the more I enjoy it. I have always been a James Iha fan, but I no longer believe he is necessary for the Smashing Pumpkins franchise to be legitimate.

Smashing Pumpkins : Zeigeist : United States

I skipped most of the Corndogorama for Pitchfork Music Fest in Chicago. It was really fun and despite sound problems, all and all a pretty sweet fest. Our coverage:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3/Wrap-Up

We got some good photos of Parade’s in-store Criminal Records show. Remember they are playing for free this Saturday night.

Marnie Stern exceeded my high expectations with her amazing show and is one of 2007’s best artists in my opinion. I swear we’ll have video from the show up soon.

Another great summer show I caught was Portugal The Man. Two things I took from the show is that I didn’t think a band could fit 10 people on the Drunken Unicorn stage jamming/dancing/working lights at one time and Portugal The Man’s new blues-rock sound on Church Mouth further displays how much stylistic range this band has.

Biggie C went down to Savannah to catch the Daniel Johnston show.

Thanks for reading! Come down to the ‘park this Saturday night and have some beers on us.

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