Jam of the Day | Oulipo - Dolphins

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via Bandcamp

The amount of exciting music slated to be released in 2015 is seriously staggering, but it's time to add  yet another album to your "Most anticipated" list. Kisses to the Sky is the forthcoming album by Raleigh NC's Oulipo, and its second single, "Dolphins," is about to dramatically improve your day. Layers of airy synthesizers and a rock-steady bass line establish the groove early on in the track, and by the time vocalist Ryan Trauley enters the fray it is apparent we are approaching a monumental eargasm. Michael Bolton-esque keyboard textures accentuate the triumphant, infectiously catchy chorus section, and the fuzzed-out electric guitar riffage that follows puts the cherry on top of this orgasmic nugget of pop bliss.

Keep up with Oulipo on Facebook and gird your loins for the full release of Kisses to the Sky

Jam of the Day | Aunt Sis - Dennis Nedry

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Photo by Erin Daniell

Despite sharing a name with Wayne Knight's contemptible, dinosaur-smuggling computer programmer character from the original Jurassic Park movie, "Dennis Nedry" is one of the most delightful morsels of indie-pop songcraft we've heard all year. With its rich textural variation and lively dynamic progression, the song functions as the aural equivalent of a well constructed ice cream sundae: a foundation of soft, milky guitars, accented with crisp drum walnuts (or pistachios if that's your thing,) and finished off superbly with singer/guitarist Justin Morris' affable, whipped-cream-smooth vocal delivery.

Aunt Sis' upcoming double EP, 9 Tracks, will be out in early November on Bleeding Gold Records

Jam of the Day | Shakey Graves - If Not For You

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Via CoS

As if we needed more reasons to be glad that October is here, this past Tuesday Shakey Graves bestowed his fantastic sophomore LP, And The War Came, upon the world. Replete with jaunty folk-rock righteousness and old time-y country longing, Mr. Graves (née Alejandro Rose-Garcia) bounces between multiple stylistic loci while deftly maintaining thematic continuity across the album's ten tracks.

"If Not For You" is a rock inflected barn-burner built on distorted electric guitar and Rose-Garcia's powerful, twanging yowl. The dynamism on display here is staggering, making it easy to forget that you're listening to one guy with a guitar, tambourine, and a bass drum made out of a suitcase.

Shakey Graves is playing a sold-out show at The Grey Eagle in Asheville on 10/18

Full Report | Moogfest 2014

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Having finally recovered enough sleep to face the glow of my computer screen, I am realizing that it will require a few unconventional methods to adequately describe the magnificent techno-gathering I spent the last five days attending.

First, a haiku:

Wise men and ravers
In the sweaty dancing pit
Harmony is realized

Presentations, demonstrations, panels, and workshops occurred throughout each day, with "Moog yoga" downtown at 10 a.m. to kick off the mornings right. Nighttime performances were held at ten venues throughout downtown Asheville, a festival landscape ripe with delicious food and more craft beer than you can shake a keg at. Seriously, I have never enjoyed walking between venues at a festival so much. Buskers peddled their musical wares on every street corner, presenting everything from old fashioned gospel hymns to bagpipe music, and if that wasn't enough music for one weekend, there were also bars downtown that had local folk and world music to entertain the substantial crowd Moogfest brought in.

 

Gypsy-folk band at 5 Walnut Wine Bar in Asheville

With so much going on, it seems to me that it's best to do this quick and dirty. Here are the quick hits and wicked pics from the last 5 days of mountainous bliss:

Wednesday

-Chilled with Flying Lotus in an elevator. Sweet.

-Dinner at The Noodle Shop downtown, and a fresh dose of swag from El-P at the Orange Peel

 

-Blinded by Pet Shop Boys lasers at Diana Wortham Theater, escape to the basement for Slow Hands

-Enjoyed bagpipes before hearing Flying Lotus literally blow shit up at the Orange Peel

El-P photo by Dylan Newcity

Pet Shop Boys

Flying Lotus photo courtesy of Magnum PR

Thursday

-Ogled synths at the Modular Marketplace before hearing Tom Oberheim talk about his life, the development of his synthesizers, and the time he hung out with Stevie Wonder.

-Nick Zinner (Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs) and Bradford Cox (Deerhunter) duration performance (from 3:00 - 7:00,) however I only lasted about an hour in the washy psychedelia.

-Keith Emerson brought back the 70's with his towering synth rig and ELP jams. A few longwinded, spaced-out stories afforded me and my crew just enough time to snag some ice cream before the band started playing again

-Dan Deacon was fucking madness. There was fire alarm inducing levels of fog and lights that would give your grandma seizures and a dance battle. Holy shit. Enough said.

Nick Zinner and Bradford Cox 

Dance battle at Dan Deacon

Keith Emerson photo by Richie Varnadore

Friday

-Screening of Scarface with the composer Giorgio Moroder at noon

-A solid nap, then Giorgio Moroder's live set at Broadway Outdoor stage

-The glory of Kraftwerk closed out the night on a hallucinatory, but awesome, note

Kraftwerk photos courtesy of Magnum PR

Kraftwerk

Saturday

-World premiere of I Dream Of Wires, a documentary about the origins of analog synthesis and the pioneering figures in the industry. 8/10, would recommend to anyone with an interest in synthesizers or music technology in general.

-Product demonstration and Q&A with Dave Smith and Roger Linn, The highlight of which was the numerous gasps of excitement after Roger Linn said that the Tempest drum machine would continue receiving updates well into the next decade. Looks like it's about time to invest that two grand...

-Dan Deacon's durational performance, which featured an electric player piano and trumpet amongst God-only-knows how many other instruments and gadgets. Very ambient, trance-y stuff for the most part; many people were laying down or even sleeping. My group and I were immobilized for an unknown amount of time, but we enjoyed every second of it.

-Caught a little of Zed's Dead, but headed over to stake out a good spot for Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks. I can best describe them as a spooky squid-jazz Animal Collective cover band.

-Finished the night off with "Moog chocolate" ice cream and comfy seats for M.I.A. The pit looked like a vortex, and she brought a bunch of girls onstage to dance at the end. The "Ohm" symbol ecstasy pills on the visuals were a little out there, but it was a fun time overall.    

Dan Deacon durational performance photo by Dylan Newcity

CHIC ft. Nile Rodgers courtesy of Magnum PR

M.I.A

Sunday

-Saw the extremely interesting Math of The Simpsons and Futurama panel with Ken Keeler, Stuart Burns, Jeff Westbrook, and David X. Cohen explaining the surprisingly intricate math that has gone into some episodes of the shows. Fun fact: Futurama is the only show to ever have a mathematical proof created for an episode.

Moogfest this year was seriously stellar and will forever rank among the most inspiring weeks of my life. I appreciate the fact that education is as much a part as entertainment at this festival and look forward to future years of analog goodness.

Jam of the Day | Dan Deacon - Crystal Cat

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Moogfest begins next week!

This exciting for many reasons, not the least of which being that Dan Deacon will be blowing minds at a venue called New Earth on Thursday night. His live shows are legendary affairs that often entail lots of weird audience participation and rave dancing, so god only knows what Deacon has up his sleeve for Moogfest this year. I will certainly be there and will almost certainly make a fool out of myself dancing like an epileptic squid.

"Crystal Cat" is an oldie-but-goodie that gives you a pretty good primer in Dan Deacon's absurd brand of psychedelic electro-pop.

Get pumped.

Jam of the Day | David Byrne & Jherek Bischoff

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Via Alarm Magazine

David Byrne has been busy recently.

After collaborating with St. Vincent on last year's delightful art rock gem, Love This Giant, the Talking Heads' frontman is putting heads together (no pun intended..) with yet another budding young artist.

Jherek Bischoff's compositional and arrangement skills are astounding for someone with nearly no formal training in the subject. The lush orchestration of "Eyes" compliments Byrne's charismatic tenor very well, but Bischoff will be the vocalist tomorrow when he opens the Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit here in Asheville, NC.

Trying to rest for the exhaustion to come... Check out "Eyes" below:

Festival Preview | Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit, October 25-27, 2013

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We're ankle deep in the 21st century by now, and the whole  "festival" thing is starting to sound a bit passé, don't you think? Mark my words, in the not-so-distant future music summits will be all the rage, leaving the music festival behind as a relic of the past. The way I understand it, the idea behind calling something a "summit" is that rather than solely focusing on artists performing, there are also panels, seminars, discussions, art installations, and other such learning goodies to take the event beyond the typical "let's get fucked up and rage" festival experience.  My first taste of the future begins this Friday.

The name says it all: "Mountain Oasis"

Asheville, NC could be adequately described as an oasis most of the time, but with the vibrant red and orange of fall in full swing right now, that description is more apt than ever. Despite calling itself an "electronic music summit," Mountain Oasis will host a wide array of genres and performers, with a particular focus on artists who make creative use of technology, be it new or old.

When trying to create an itinerary for the coming weekend I was presented with some tough decisions. I'm doing my best to be realistic, but there will be so much crazy goodness going on, that I don't know if I'll manage to stick to schedule. But letting the madness sweep you off on an unscheduled adventure is half the fun! Regardless, here's the plan so far:

Friday

Jherek Bischoff (7:00), Diana Wortham Theatre: After releasing 2012's Composed with high profile guest vocalists ranging from David Byrne to Caetano Veloso, the Seattle based composer has been spotted on more than a few "best up and coming artist" countdowns. With a live show that often features upwards of 30 people on stage,  this is sure to be a grand opening to the weekend.

Purity Ring (8:45), Exploreasheville.com Arena: The Canadian electro-pop duo has been making waves even before their debut album, Shrines, came out last year. Missing out on dancing under their wicked awesome light-up orb stage setup would be downright foolish.

Daniel Johnston (9:45), Thomas Wolfe Auditorium: The original freak-folk troubadour doesn't come around very often, but his audience has grown exponentially as his legendary tale has spread. The demand to see him live has exploded. Very excited for this one!

Neutral Milk Hotel (11:30), Thomas Wolfe Auditorium: Admittedly, I am a Jeff Mangum/Neutral Milk Hotel fanboy. I had the pleasure of seeing Jeff on his two most recent solo tours, and was blown away both times. But now he's doing it up right. A full band Neutral Milk Hotel reunion has been the dream of legions of indie kids since Mangum called it quits in '99, and now it's actually happening. Holy fuck, y'all.

XXYYXX (12:45), Asheville Music Hall: This 17 year-old electronic wunderkind has been blowing up over the past two years, and his live set is rumored to be off the chain. Much delirious, exhausted dancing will ensue.

Saturday

Bosnian Rainbows (7:00), Exploreasheville.com Arena: I last saw Omar Rodriguez Lopez with a briefly reunited At the Drive-In during Lollapalooza 2012, and I never miss an opportunity to see one of his projects live. I'm actually pretty happy The Mars Volta are on hiatus because it gave birth to Bosnian Rainbows... Is that sacrilege?

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (10:00), Exploreasheville.com Arena:  Godspeed blew my mind live once before. Their artful gloom, supplemented by real-deal 16mm film projections, was completely unlike any other concert experience I've had. Just be there and see what I'm talking about..

Animal Collective/Nine Inch Nails (11:30/12:00): Oh fortune, how you have scorned me! Pitting these two headliners against each other was an unfortunate decision, but I'll just have to manage sprinting between the manic madness of AnCo, and the industrial brood of NIN. I suppose there are worse problems to have, though.

Sunday

How To Dress Well (7:45), The Orange Peel: I missed an opportunity to see How To Dress Well live before I knew about them, and have been kicking myself for the better part of a year for it. I can promise you that this will be the sexiest set of the weekend, and if you doubt me, just listen to 2012's Total Loss. You'll probably start making out with the first person who crosses your path, so be warned.

Shlohmo (10:45), Asheville Music Hall: Young EDM producers are a recurring theme at Mountain Oasis; the haunting wash of 22 year-old Heny Laufer's noir-tronica will surely satisfy my end of festival moodiness.

Time will tell how accurate this itinerary is, but great things are on the horizon.

Onward!

Jam of the Day | Molly Drake - Happiness

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As I sit with my cup of tea writing this, gazing into the gorgeous mountain landscape before me, I am  reminded of something that I've just recently realized: I'm really happy.

I wouldn't say that I had been unhappy necessarily, just unsatisfied, stuck, and a little burnt out. Since I've moved to the beautiful city of Asheville, North Carolina, though, all of that has been changing. I've met so many warm people and new friends, that I can hardly fit all the contacts in my phone. I've felt free for the first time in years, and it's not just the liberating "I can do what I want" type of free, the inspiring type of free where you feel like you could walk any path you happen upon and be totally content with where it takes you.

It's amazing.

Molly Drake, mother of the legendary songwriter Nick Drake, might know this feeling. Her music has been overshadowed by her son's legacy, but she was an amazing artist in her own right, and now, thanks to Squirrel Thing Recordings and Nick's producer John Wood, Molly's elegant home recordings are being released (on vinyl!).

"Happiness" is the anthem for my morning. I hope you're doing well, too, and if not, why not?

Jam of the Day | How to Dress Well - & It Was U

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Tom Krell wants to soundtrack the conception of your next child.

Well, maybe "wants to" is an overstatement, but if Krell (AKA How to Dress Well) didn't expect baby-making going on during his tunes, then he shouldn't have written an album inspired by Janet Jackson.

How to Dress Well's sophomore record, Total Loss, took cues from Jackson's critically acclaimed The Velvet Rope, and while Krell's airy production and hipster R&B vocals ooze sexy, there's still an emotional complexity there that keeps everything genuine. "& It Was U" is a slick groover and personal favorite that blends drum machines, synths and mad vocal hooks into the most enjoyable three minutes of neo-soul ever put to tape.

Krell and his band are scary talented and a joy to watch perform, so I'm very excited to get the chance to see them this October at the Mountain Oasis festival in Asheville, NC. Massive amounts of awesome are in store for this fall..

Concert Review | Jeff Mangum at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, NC

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All photos by Dylan Newcity

I'll be laughing out loud
I'll be laughing with everyone I see 
Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all

The reverence surrounding Jeff Mangum is daunting. His once cult following has become more akin to a legitimate religious cult, whose zealotry has only grown more fevered with age. This fanatical devotion is evident even before actually seeing him in concert because acquiring a ticket to any show on his recent tours is a feat in and of itself. Tickets to this show at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, North Carolina were sold out within an hour of their availability, and when I saw him for the first time in Chapel Hill last year, all the tickets were gone in just over a half an hour.

Despite all the fervor, it was clear that the Neutral Milk Hotel frontman does not consider himself to be any sort of messianic poet, and he appeared very uncomfortable with his exalted status. There has been no photography allowed at any of the shows on the recent tours, and it was clear by his expressions to those bold enough to try and snap a picture (myself included) that this was for his mental health, rather than to keep his stage show from winding up on Youtube. He appeared very awkward on stage, often sighing mournfully at the end of songs and rarely speaking to the crowd, which is not a criticism, but simply a suggestion that being in the spotlight again after all these years might be wearing on his nerves. Another area of note was his appearance, which has changed dramatically since my last encounter with him. A cleanly shaven and bright eye'd Mangum took the stage in Chapel Hill last January, but this time around he was sporting a large, greying beard, and a bedraggled countenance that made him difficult to recognize upon first taking the stage.

Unfortunately incessant crowd chatter rendered opener Tall Firs nearly inaudible, but the band took the crowd's disinterest in stride. Those that did pay attention were treated to a solid set of chill, guitar-driven indie ballads.

Then Mangum took the stage.

The audience went wild as he opened the set with "Holland, 1945," which had nearly the entire crowd already singing their hearts out. Audience singing was constant throughout the night, but it wasn't of the obnoxious, "Shut the hell up" variety, it was a unifying, joyous thing that felt fantastic to be a part of. As Mangum sped through highlights from Neutral Milk Hotel's seminal albums, the energy in the room was electric. It wasn't high-voltage rock show energy, but more of a devotional adulation that was both comforting and breathtaking. The most beautiful moments of crowd participation came during sections of songs where Mangum would encourage the crowd to take over entirely, such as the iconic "I love you, Jesus Christ" intro of "King Of Carrot Flowers Pts. Two & Three," and the instrumental break in "Ghost." The majority of the set was comprised of Mangum playing solo with an arsenal of acoustic guitars, but he was accompanied by horns on "Oh Comely" and "April 8th." Set closer "The Fool" was one of the many highlights of the night, and featured members of Tall Firs and some of Mangum's "dear friends" playing floor tom, flugelhorn, trumpet and tambourine. The excitement on the player's faces during this song was great to see, and Mangum was clearly more comfortable on stage when joined by his friends. A few minutes after exiting the stage, Mangum returned for a coda of Neutral Milk Hotel's beloved "In The Aeroplane Over The Sea," which was met with the most forceful audience accompaniment of the night. I'd be shocked if there was a single person in that crowd that wasn't at least humming to themselves.

Some would say that with all the hype about Jeff Mangum's return, seeing him live could never live up to expectation. Sure, to someone who isn't that into Neutral Milk Hotel's music the show might seem less interesting, but Jeff's performance isn't the only thing that makes his concerts so powerful. It's the people. When that many people who love Jeff's music so much and have waited over a decade to hear it live, are put into a room together the energy is indescribable. It's a truly unique experience, and one that I hope anyone with an appreciation for Jeff's music, classic indie rock, sing-alongs or the flugelhorn can have.