MOG - szanujzielen's Posts

What I’ll Do For Rock & Roll: MGMT in the Rain

szanujzielen — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 01:34:28 GMT

First — for those of you who don’t plan on reading the entire review — MGMT and Yeasayer played last night at the Echoplex in Echo Park and it was glorious.

Second — for those of you planning on reading the review — LA’s been funny lately.

Yesterday was the clearest day I’ve seen in years. You could see the snow capped San Bernardino Mountains from Manhattan Beach and the city of Los Angeles was on plain view for anyone who cared to look.

Naturally I was excited for a night out on the town, perhaps a little Yeasayer, maybe, oh I don’t know — MGMT! The only problem — I didn’t have tickets and the show was completely sold out.

But that’s fine, right? We’ve all waited in line outside the door for our favorite new bands, and lord knows we all expected the Echo Park hipsters to come out in full effect, suit vests and cardigans a blazin’, so we (me and my friends, not my friends and I) arrived at 6:30, about an hour before the doors opened.

There were no tickets. And at 6:45 it started raining, “Fuck.”

No big deal though, we were at the front of the line, the show was within our grasp and the line had already grown to around 50 people in 15 minutes. We were going to get in —it was just a matter of time.

But who wants to wait in line sober? Two of us walked down to the corner store, bought some whiskey and some coke and made some whiskey and cokes for the group.

A beat.

By 8:45, the crowd was growing restless, most of the ticket holders had already entered the show, the line of people waiting to purchase tickets stretched all the way around the block and numbered in the hundreds. Not to mention it had been raining for two hours at this point. Those of us without umbrellas (and probably those with, as well) were soaked to the bone. The whiskey we had bought at the corner store was completely gone and our spirits were near broken. I mean, I love rock and roll, but this was getting ridiculous.

Finally, at 9:30pm PST the first 25 people in the line were given the green light to switch into the will call line, ready our IDs and prepare for entrance into the venue.

YES!

Although at this point, there’s a good chance I was more excited to go inside than to actually see a show.

When we got in the door, Yeasayer was right in the middle of their set, psychedelic video playing in the background, you know the kind where an image is mirrored on the left and right portions of the screen and then changes like a kaleidoscope to the music.

Unfortunately, my energy level was so high by the time I got in the door, Yeasayer’s laid back, frolicking stage presence was somewhat unsatisfying. I was looking for something more driving, something with more presence, something I could dance to so my clothes would dry out.

With that said, Yeasayer’s performance was good. I have a propensity to be really hard on opening acts since I saw Man Man open for Modest Mouse over the summer. I will still make the argument that Man Man was better than Modest Mouse that night.

Back to the concert.

By the time Yeasayer finished their set I had completely lost track of time. My focus was on one thing — MGMT.

As soon as they stepped on stage, I knew it had been worth it. They launched right into “Weekend Wars” an apt song for the moment, “It’s difficult to win unless you’re bored, and you might have to plan for the weekend wars.”

I worked my way closer to the stage as Andrew exchanged some light banter with the crowd. I squeezed my way into the mix, and just as I got settled, the band launched into “The Youth,” their ballad for time past, “we could flood the streets with love or light or head, whatever, lock the parents out, cut a run, twist and shout, wave your hands, make it rain.”

I said in a review of Los Campesinos! last week that their sound was “nostalgic” I want to recycle that here for MGMT’s “The Youth.” And although I love their slow ballads, “Time to Pretend” was what I had come to see, so I moved closer to the stage so I wouldn’t miss the opportunity to cut some rug.

Then out of the blue, they jumped right into “Time to Pretend,” I’m not sure why I was caught so off guard, I guess I thought they would save it for last because it’s my favorite song, “I’m feeling rough, I’m feeling raw, I’m in the prime of my life.”

Thank you MGMT. Thank you. It just makes me feel better when someone else says it too.

I got my opportunity to dance the rain off, everyone around me seemed in a legitimately good mood and I felt among friends. The atmosphere was pretty amazing, although I would have loved to see more people dancing. After “Time to Pretend” the band played “Electric Feel” which was definitely a crowd favorite.

I pulled back out of the crowd and found my friends dancing near the bar. I felt rough. I felt raw, and it felt like — this — was the prime of my life.

After a few more songs, MGMT closed with “Kids,” which now looking back was probably the safe bet for their closer. All in all, their performance was better than expected and satisfying.

It was well worth all the waiting and the bad weather and the bullshit.

I know this was a long way to go for a drop of water (all the pun intended), but the point is that MGMT, in the rain, at the Echoplex, with your friends, is the perfect mix. I highly recommend that you go and pick up Oracular Spectacular and check them out when they come to your corner of the country.

Why Los Campesinos! remind me of the year 2000.

szanujzielen — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:05:29 GMT

Music belongs to places for me.

My memories of the past, moments with friends, books I've read, family, girl friends, it's all highlighted by the music I was listening to at the time. And I'm sure it's that way for many of you too, because we've all got those albums that take us back when.

Los Campesinos! does that for me.

But it's strange the way it happens. Every time I listen to them I have this vivid memory of riding in a burgundy 1992 Volvo 270 in the summer of 2000. The Getup Kids cover of "Close to Me" was on repeat and we were riding down Castle Shannon Boulevard between 7/11 (which we had probably just left, I can't remember) and The CD Exchange.

That's random, I know and I apologize, but it's so vivid sometimes and the Los Campesinos! sound rings nostalgic to me. I picked up their Maida Vale Session a few months ago and I've been in love since.

They're so damn witty and I can't help but dance every time I hear the opener of the session, "Death To Los Campesinos!" The whole song has an air of careless intensity, like those moments of our youth that somehow get stuck in your memory gland, "if you catch me with my hands in the till, I promise, sugar, I wasn't trying to steal, I'm just swimming in copper to smell and pretend like a robot."

I don't know what that means, but I like it. I want to smell and pretend like a robot

"We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives," which was also on the vinyl by the same name, rushes by at a fevered tempo leaving you smiling with the band at the end, "Team Campesinos on the driveway trick or treating in the middle of august, one of us dressed as a zombie, one of us dressed as a pirate, one of us dressed as a ninja, four of dressed as school girls and I'm staring you straight in the eyes, I'm shaking my head and I'm staring you straight in your eyes."

And then, the thing I appreciate most about this band. They cover Pavement and they do it well. Pavement is one of those bands that lives in places for people. I've got a hundred and one Pavement moments and under normal circumstances I would be hypercritical of any band that attempted a cover, but Los Campesinos! somehow pulls it off. I can't help but love this version of "Frontwards," its got the ironic Malkumus sound, but it doesn't try too hard. It's careless just like Pavement and it sounds natural in their voices.

The session ends with "You! Me! Dancing!" complete with the trademark Los Campesinos! exclamation point ! times three!

Sorry.

Now that I think about it, I'm going to have to find a bar in LA that has this one in the jukebox. You can dance alone to this song. You can dance with your girl (or guy) to this song or you can dance all in a big group in the back of the bar, Tarantino style, "It's You! It's Me! It's Dancing!"

Anyway, I just wanted to get that all out there so I could come back around to the point. Music belongs to places for me and Los Campesinos! reminded me of that.

I can't wait for the new album.

Mystic Brew, Mystic Bounce and Madlib

szanujzielen — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:57:28 GMT

The lighting around the bar is warm and both bartenders are wearing aprons over collared white shirts. In the corner, a band is playing for tips while a wash of noise ebbs and flows on the shores of the night.

Drinks are served, food is rushed from the kitchen, tips are left and the band in the corner continues to play.

Before long another beat begins. It's smart and alive, and the music feeds the moment.

2K8 B-Ball Zombie War and My Kitchen Sink

szanujzielen — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 05:38:16 GMT

Oh man, so much to say, so little time.

Last Saturday afternoon I threw on Peanut Butter Wolf’s new compilation 2K8 B-Ball Zombie War (a great title after you get done with the album).

And I have to tell you first — I’ve got a thing for Saturday afternoon records. They’re great albums to work to, like The Allman Brothers Eat a Peach or Mountain’s Climbing!

From the opening track, Madlib’s “See (Suite),” it was apparent what I had — the newest member of my Saturday afternoon collection.

Beats enough to clean my way from the kitchen sink all the way past my living room couch. The late J Dilla's "Lightworking (featuring Q-Tip and Talib Kweli) powered me through the laundry with verse after verse of the nice flow.

I swept the floor to the frantic “Break It Down” by M.E.D and sorted mail to Madlib’s laid back, far out “Wigflip.” The rhythm skipping and flipping through the bills with me.

I stopped a second when the second J Dilla track, Mash’s Revenge (featuring MF DOOM and Guilty Simpson) came on. Half the apartment was clean.

Doom’s flow jumps in and out of some crazy ass worlds for the 30 seconds we meet him. But are we on the street with Doom, wreaking havoc with the metal-fingered terrorist, or is it just Dum [Doom], Dumile himself, pulling the strings from above and dropping the monotonous flow.

Guilty Simpson rounds out the track with a nice verse, storming through the piano underlay.

The album is scysophrenic like the characters that appear under Peanut Butter Wolf’s watch. Koushik, CX KidTRONiK and Quasimoto — Madlib’s speed-freak alterego — all show up with some of their best work.

And Arabian Prince? Professor X sounds like a guy I need to meet. Jesus. Hypnotic break beats thundering between pulses of intergalactic lasers. How do you become a professional at that?

Somewhere in the middle of evil video game bosses and 80’s break beat MCs is the Bass Creator’s Groove by Jonathon Brown.

It’s all gravy.

So I’m not going to give 2K8 a number reading. I’m not sure how many people that’s going to drive crazy but, you can’t polish a turnip. What can I say?

Give this album a listen some day. It’s worth the time, and these days, free time comes at a premium.

exercise for the writing muscle.

szanujzielen — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 08:32:23 GMT

I wake up in the morning. I’m already 15 minutes late.

I shower with my toothbrush (if we’re being honest with one another, sometimes I forget to put the toothpaste on). What? That’s about the best part of the first 12 hours of my day.

I write for a creative sweatshop. I write all day, and then on most days, I write all night. Luckily my floor boss allows me the freedom to listen to my iPod when I’m not falling asleep in meetings.

Plus, your equity line of credit can be used to get cash out of your home. It’s fast, easy, and there are absolutely no fees to pay. You’re prequalified so there’s no paperwork, call 1.800 or visit thisbanksucks.com for more information about our insidiously horrible financial product.

Look for that gem in the stack of number 10’s that’s probably collecting in your mailbox. Thank god for music and MOG right?

More on the way when I clear this head of mine.

Doom photos from the New Years Eve show

szanujzielen — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 06:25:15 GMT

Here are some more pictures from the DOOM NYE show in LA, i pulled them from deepurbanbreaks.com, the host of the whole night.

Plotting shows like robberies, in and out 1-2-3

szanujzielen — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 04:17:50 GMT

Here's the story.

I saw the DOOM show on New Years Eve. The location was amazing, downtown LA in an old warehouse. KRS-1 rang in the new year with an amazing set. Pharcyde capped it off with "Passing Me By." I was speechless.

It was better than ideal. I wouldn't have changed a thing.

At about 12:50am KRS-1, Fatlip and everyone else said their goodbyes to make way for the masked wonder.

The stage was cleaned off, and the crowd started yelling for DOOM. We were told that he was getting ready to come on, but the crowd in the VIP to the left of the stage had to clear the area. So we waited for another 10 minutes. Then we waited some more.

At about 12:30 DOOM finally came up on stage with two masked hype men and a guy to stand next to the tape machine. Thinking back on it, his hype men might have been Mass Hysteria, but I can't say for certain--they were masked.

The first thing everyone noticed was that DOOMs mic was turned way down compared to the other mics on stage. It was distracting, the crowd began to boo and dramatically thinned out. Cigarette butts started to fly up on stage as he launched into "One Beer"

"Plotting shows like robberies, in and out 1-2-3, no bodies please"

I mean come on, the guy is the Super Villain, he's a masked culprit who has already told us he's here to destroy rap.

In the middle of his forth or fifth song, he clearly missed a lyric and stopped the track. The hype men, his tape man and DOOM huddled up sidestage and it was announced that DOOM had to leave due to a "medical emergency."

Of course the crowd erupted in boos and cat calls as DOOM started for the stairs, but at the last second he turned around and the track started again-they finished the song.

He had only been on stage for 25 minutes or less at this point. Most people had been waiting since 9pm and had fought through an hour or so of will call, ticket and security lines, it was pretty awful actually. And here comes this guy, who's intentionally lipsyncing to his own songs and sending imposters out in his place.

For everyone out there that heard an accounts of the San Fran, Atlanta and Rock the Bells shows, it was all of that business and more.

Although, I have to say, the more I think about it, the more it makes some sort of ridiculous sense.

He's the masked villain. Dumile created a fictional character that he's brought to life on stage just like he told us on his records. He's a thief and shady dude that's come to destroy rap and hip-hop through his fucked up antics. And people want to call him a phoney and say that he's shitting on his fan base? You don't go to see the Daniel Dumile show, you go to see MF DOOM, you go to see the messed up shit, the meta-fucked theater show that could only be hatched by the one and only.

It's a fucked up idea, but I'm loving it.

Here are some pictures from the show. Let me know if anyone else made the show, or has any DOOM conspiracy theories.

DOOM YEARS EVE

szanujzielen — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 01:37:24 GMT

Tonight has finally come. Doom at the SAFEHOUSE in downtown LA. This is going to be unreal. The masked villain himself ringing in the new year with another spine-tingling adventure.

Anyone else going?

I'll be back with a full recap and photos in the coming days.

YES!

King Khan & The Shrines, MGMT, The Time of My Life: The Pen and I.

szanujzielen — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 03:54:25 GMT

There are times in life when the possibilities seem immense. We call these the days of youth. And from what Im able to see right now were doing pretty well. Sitting in the top sliver of wealth during the most ridiculous empire in world history. In fact, Im not even writing this with a pen. Im typing it on one of those fancy laptops that sprung out of the technology boom of the late 1990s. Go mac. So here I come dancing down one of those streets. Ive lost consciousness. What a sight. Drinkin vodka tonics by the dozen. Ive got Youth, Energy, nothing to lose in the World (were title casing the Nouns now). And the idea that the pen. The Pen, the pencil, whatever. That age old object, without the hyphen, can save the world. What a new fucking idea. People having been moving to the alps and starting sex colonies for almost 300 years.

But there is really nothing, nothing we can do. Love must be forgotten. Life can always start up anew.

We all think we can change the world. In some twisted sort of way, and behind that secret want to tear the throats from our competitors. Its fair to say were civil to the point of friendliness in the work place. But if that co-worker were nameless on the side of the road with a flat tire, how many of us would stop? None. Exactly. And I dont want to hear any stories about that time you stopped and picked up that one Hippie/Punk/Indie rocker, that one time. There are no apostrophes either cause that button dont work. Thats why Im sitting here with some leisure time before the holidays. Cause I stopped giving a shit at 17, Cause I dont pick up those drifters that come into my life.

No I dont regret a thing. If I did it wouldnt be the same.

Ive got no conscience but the pen and the pad, and even that isnt all the way baked. Should I start reading recovery books now or later? Anyway, Im all here and Happy Holidays.

It's the last day of work before holiday

szanujzielen — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 18:00:15 GMT

The day has finally come. The two-fold Friday, possibly the best one of the year. Not only is this work week from hell over and done with after today, I'm also flying back home for the first time in a fuckin year.

(dancing in my cubicle)

That calls for one thing - The Flaming Lips. Well, it calls for two things. The Flaming Lips and substances. Is that two things?

Anyway, everyone at this office was so radical they had to dip out on work two days early. In other words, I'm pretty jealous and would have done the same thing if I had the vaca days.

(I just spent 15 minutes of my morning on a call with NY and Dallas trying to decide if we could meet on a call in an hour.)

Enjoy some lips and drink a beer for me, your local faceless interweb postwriter. Drink more than a beer, drink several beers for me.

Rock and Roll.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWK!

szanujzielen — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 05:23:49 GMT

i don't care about that he said she said jive, i'm a gentleman.

Fated to Pretend in the Midwest.

szanujzielen — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:55:59 GMT

You know that feeling you get every once in a while a song grabs you and won’t let go? A few years ago I fell in love to Metric “Hustle Rose” and then my life fell apart to BSS “Stars and Sons.” I got a new job and listened to LCD’s “All My Friends” and my heart broke again to “Someone Great.”

MGMT’s “Time To Pretend” is kinda like that, only I don’t know what’s in store. The holiday’s are here, I haven’t seen my family in a year and I’m not sure what’s left for me at home. There’s a melancholy hanging over my head and it’s been raining in LA for the last two days. Strange stuff.

I just hope I’ve got the courage not to pretend while I’m home. There’s so much build up from not being home for such a long period of time and it’s all being mashed into 8 days back in the Midwest.

Old fashioned values and high school friends here I come! I’m fated to pretend.

Bobb Deep: Queensbridge to Kingston

szanujzielen — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:49:00 GMT

Aww yeah. Eckles where you at? You know this is going to make an appearance at the 2nd annual X-mas party.

Doom 12" in 2006

szanujzielen — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 06:28:23 GMT

Check out the 2006 Doom. Who knew? I completely missed this one until about a month ago.

FYI He's playing downtown LA for New Years 2007. And to think a whole mess of Doom is coming out in 2008/2009.

Riiight...It's going to be legendary.