music I'm currently in love with:
Amsterdam by Coldplay
Die Alone by Ingrid Michaelson
Say by John Mayer
15 Step by Radiohead
Sideways by Let's Go Sailing
With Arms Outstretched by Rilo Kiley
Fresh Feeling by Eels
Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones
Hallelujah by Paramore
Modern Art Gallery by Cheese on Bread
Use It by The New Pornographers
She Moves in Her Own Way by The Kooks
Anything You Want by Spoon

Amigos,ando me pergutando bastante o que esta acontecendo com os nossos camaradas moradores deste longiquo pais,pois cada dia que passa eu descubro mais bandas interessantes,fazendos musicas que nos cativa e acabamos sempre adicionando aos nossos playlists diarios.Primeiro vieram os rapazes liderados por win buttler e seu aracade fire que conquistaram o mundo com dois albuns fenomenais:Funeral e Neon bible,com sua diversidade musical,acrescentando novos instrumentos antes relegadas por muitas outras bandas.

procurando mais um pouco enconteri outra belissima banda com nome muito curioso os the new pornographers,formado por um combo de rapazes e moças,com varios albuns na bagagem como por exemplo :mass romantic,twin cinema e o ultimo lançamento challenge,que mostra bem o amadurecimento da banda.escute os e garanto que não irão se arrependerer.

Eu lhes digo que nao fica so por aqui,voçe ainda escutara muito falar sobre essas bandas e tambem essas que citarei agora como:the organ,the dears,black mountain e muitas outras ainda virão.
RebelionUse ItBrotherNever Destroy Us

How stunningly awful.

I write from the pit of despair. Had I not been with three people tonight I would have left KOKO after the first - latest second - song. How can a band like the The New Pornographers have been massacred like that, and even worse, not have had a clue? I may sound dramatic, but it was that disastrous. So bad that between songs the crowd were screaming for more vocals - but they couldn't hear, even though they tried to make out what was being said. Which was pitiful; watching them assume that the crowd was screaming for favourite songs. More vocals though, was not what was required. Everything was wrong.

Waves of distortion on the guitars and cymbal, feedback on the inaudible vocals, no keyboard, no warmth, no bass - just tinny, distorted, empty, depressing as fuck sound. No melodies to speak of (impossible to make out), no big round harmonies, no rhythm, nothing. A disaster. I've lost my will to even urge for the immediate sacking of the sound engineers, I'm so depressed.

I can't say anything else about the gig except to note that, as I had to stay, I listened for some promise from the new material (played live). It was in the encore; nothing else stood out much, although you couldn't really say anything for sure about this mess. Will I ever be able to listen to Use It without wincing from pain?

Thu 4 Oct – The New Pornographers, Peter Von Poehl, School of Language

Fri 21 Sep – The New Pornographers

I heard about The New Pornographers about a year ago on the radio and recently heard one of my friends talking about going to the show. I started listening to The New Pornographers about 2 weeks ago so I'd be ready. It so happened that I ended up biking alone to the show at The Rialto Theatre on Sept. 21st.

I got to the show right after the first act got off the stage. Right as I got to the floor I saw none other than my art history professor! He's a 40ish-looking guy and I steered clear of him and his amigos. I did a full walk around the pit and who else did I run into? My chemistry teaching assistant and some of her grad student friends! I wasn't going to drink so I awkwardly stood there, made a little small talk, and even stood with them through the second act, Lavender Diamond.

Lavender Diamond was ok; I rate them a 6/10. The music was elegant and harmonious but not memorable or impacting in any way. The vocalist had the kind of charm someone on pot might have. By that I mean she was really relaxed, goofy, and made odd statements about her surroundings.

After the second act, I met one of my friend's old roommates. Let's just say she was way too excited to see me. A second later I get poked by a gal I've been talking to at recent community bike rides, which get about 160 people. She said she was alone so I left the dull grad students and moved up to the front of the pit with her. Interestingly enough I was greeted by some more people I had met on a BICAS bike ride. We got to talk a bit before The New Pornographers got on stage and that's when I real show started. By this I mean it's when the REAL performers got on stage and all the fans started to show some emotion.

The only way I could show my appreciation was to dance and sing along to their songs (Use It, Sing Me Spanish Techno, These Are the Fables, etc.). My friend left a little early and I stayed to hear The New Pornographers play three extra songs after closing their set. Some of the highlights of the night were when the secondary singer(name?) walked around the stage with a beer and sung songs and also when the band's (or Neko Case's?) dog came onto the stage during a song. Oh, btw, I really like the size and diversity of the ensemble. Neko Case's has a great voice (so does the lead singer) and this show was done pretty well.

I was REALLY surprised by all the familiar faces I saw that night but Tucson has been getting smaller and smaller by the day recently. Early on I rated The New Pornographers at a 5/10 but they're a strong 7/10 now. I set a really high bar when it comes to rating anything so please take that into consideration. I hope I get to compare them to Rilo Kiley, Architecture in Helsinki, and Modest Mouse when those shows roll into town.

Prabjit

Fri 21 Sep – The New Pornographers, Lavender Diamond, the Awkward Stage

I heard about The New Pornographers about a year ago on the radio and recently heard one of my friends talking about going to the show. I started listening to The New Pornographers about 2 weeks ago so I'd be ready. It so happened that I ended up biking alone to the show at The Rialto Theatre on Sept. 21st.

I got to the show right after the first act got off the stage. Right as I got to the floor I saw none other than my art history professor! He's a 40ish-looking guy and I steered clear of him and his amigos. I did a full walk around the pit and who else did I run into? My chemistry teaching assistant and some of her grad student friends! I wasn't going to drink so I awkwardly stood there, made a little small talk, and even stood with them through the second act, Lavender Diamond.

Lavender Diamond was ok; I rate them a 6/10. The music was elegant and harmonious but not memorable or impacting in any way. The vocalist had the kind of charm someone on pot might have. By that I mean she was really relaxed, goofy, and made odd statements about her surroundings.

After the second act, I met one of my friend's old roommates. Let's just say she was way too excited to see me. A second later I get poked by a gal I've been talking to at recent community bike rides, which get about 160 people. She said she was alone so I left the dull grad students and moved up to the front of the pit with her. Interestingly enough I was greeted by even some more people I had met on a BICAS bike ride. We got to talk a bit before The New Pornographers got on stage and that's when I real show started. By this I mean it's when the REAL performers got on stage and all the fans started to show some emotion.

The only way I could show my appreciation was to dance and sing along to their songs (Use It, Sing Me Spanish Techno, These Are the Fables, etc.). My friend left a little early and I stayed to hear The New Pornographers play three extra songs after closing their set. Some of the highlights of the night were when the secondary singer(name?) walked around the stage with a beer and sung songs and also when the band's (or Neko Case's?) dog came onto the stage during a song. Oh, btw, I really like the size and diversity of the ensemble. Neko Case's has a great voice (so does the lead singer) and this show was done pretty well.

I was REALLY surprised by all the familiar faces I saw that night but Tucson has been getting smaller and smaller by the day recently. Early on I rated The New Pornographers at a 5/10 but they're a strong 7/10 now. I set a really high bar when it comes to rating anything so please take that into consideration. I hope I get to compare them to Rilo Kiley, Architecture in Helsinki, and Modest Mouse when those shows roll into town.

Prabjit

So, a review on: Mon 18 Jun – The New Pornographers, Envelopes, which I attended with Ged_UK and was very excited about, having jst got into The New Pornographers recently and really enjoyed all 3 of their albums.

We arrived pretty early to stake out a good spot (very early as it turned out - the Bar Academy Islington was virtually empty when we got there at about 7.15 or so). After enjoying a couple of pints of surprisingly nice beer and watching the place gradully fill up, support appeared in the shape of Envelopes. They were pretty good, quite enjoyable without being particularly memorable. Not much more to say about them than that.

So, onto The New Pornographers. By the time they came on the place was packed out - I was very glad that we'd decided to get there early as we ended up about 3 rows from the front so I had an excellent view of all the action.

The main set was made up of a combination of old songs and tracks from the band's forthcoming album, Challengers (released on August 20, I think). From what I heard on Monday, it's going to be a hell of an album. All the tracks they played were really strong and got a great response from the crowd.

(If anyone's interested, you can download a track, My Rights Versus Yours from the band's official site)

The set list worked well - it was pretty much one new song followed by an old one. It's good as the band gets plenty of new material in there (I think one of the reasons for the gig was to try out stuff pre-Glastonbury) while making sure they didn't lose the energy of the crowd.

Most of the older stuf was from their last album, Twin Cinema (they played Twin Cinema, Use It, The Bleeding Heart Show, Jackie, Dressed in Cobras, The Jessica Numbers, and finished the set with the brilliant Sing Me Spanish Techno), along with a couple of older songs, Mass Romantic, The Laws Have Changed, and Testament to Youth in Verse.

The band were in really good form - Carl seemed to be really enjoying playing the new stuff and getting such a good response from the crowd. Kathryn Calder was great too (the best compliment I can pay her is that I didn't once think 'it's a shame Neko Case isn't here'). And the drummer seemed to be practising for the world gurning championships judging by the faces he was pulling.

Anyway, after rapturous applause the band came on for an encore, where they proceeded to play a serious of requests. This was my favourite bit of the show as they played pretty much all of my favourite early tracks: The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism, All for Swinging You Around, Miss Teen Wordpower, From Blown Speakers, and finished with Letter From an Occupant, which I really wanted them to play and sang along with at the top of my voice.

So, I have to say it was a really great gig. My only minor gripe was that the vocals could have been louder in the mix - they got a bit lost at times. But i can't wait for the new album now, and hopefully there'll be a UK tour in the autumn to promote it. Oh, and I've told my friends who are going to Glastonbury that they have to go and check them out.

It was steaming hot in the desert this year, not quite as hot as 2004, but still pretty roasty. The good folks at Coachella put into place a system where you could exchange 10 empty plastic bottles for one free bottle of water. This was good not only for hydration, but also helped ease the hit of 15-20 $2 waters throughout the day. It was also a big hit for Mrs. tomauto not only because she's a big recycler but also the fact that nothing amuses her more then watching her husband dive into trash cans while festival going strangers laugh at him.

A special mention here of The Mormons, a band who played on their own accord in the parking lot coming into the grounds. Four guys dressed in shirts/ties and wearing bicycle helmets playing a kinda hyper energetic indie rock. They were pretty fucking cool, maybe a good addition for next year?

Yeva was one of the only acts that I wasn't able to find any info on before heading to the fest. Naturally this made them a good place to start Saturday, as I've found some great surprises checking out unknown bands at Coachella. The fellas in Yeva are from Puerto Rico and they combined a percussive Latin traditional rhythmic style with crunching heavy metal. They were outwardly excited to be playing such a big event, and it came through in the music. Lots of smiles and they really took advantage of the oppurtunity to use a 50 chunk of time to produce great music and win over some fans, which they apparently did. Later that night I tried to pick up their EP at the Virgin music store on site, but it sold out not long after their set.

Fountains of Wayne came up next on the agenda over at the main stage. I'm prone to needing a good power pop fix, and they provided it. They do have a tendency to come up with some really daft lyrics, and luckily they didn't play that ridiculous Stacey's Mom song. They sounded good, lots of good hooks and great harmonies. They also played one of my favorite power pop songs of all time, Radiation Vibe, with it's fantastic punchy chorus. Number of times artist mentioned how how it was = 2

Mrs. tomauto really digs Regina Spektor, and I also really enjoyed the little bit of stuff of hers that I'd heard before catching her set. However, I wouldn't mind not hearing Fidelity ever again. Goddamn that songs overplayed. Anyway, her set was wonderful. She started out a capella and then moved behind her piano, which eventually conked out on her after a few songs. No matter, she moved to guitar while the keyboard was fixed and continued to play wonderfully crafted songs with some of the best lyrics I heard all weekend. What a voice. Number of times artist mentioned how hot it was = 1

The New Pornographers are another band I've really wanted to check out live. We made sure we got there in time to pick up a good spot near the stage, especially considering The Decemberists were up next. "Today's a good day to die" was A.C. Newman's greeting to the crowd, which was followed by a quick brainstorming session as to who that quote needed to be attributed to (Native American saying/Apocolypse Now quote being the dual outcome). It did look like the band may expire on stage, as both Newman and his keyboardist looked like they were about to pass out, to the point that they had to take water and frozen lemonade breaks. They opened with a smashing Sing Me Spanish Techno and did good job of playing hard through a bad mix (a problem that plagued the second stage all weekend). There were also good rendetions of Use It and Miss Teen Wordpower. Number of times artist mentioned how hot it was = approx. 152

I love seeing The Decemberists play, even though I was a bit underwhelmed by The Crane Wife (too many turkeys on that record). They always have so much fun onstage and it's incredibly infectious. They had my personal favorite timeslot, right about sunset time, and they took advantage of the cooling temps to start an impromptu dance contest in the crowd, having each side form dance circles. It was at this point that I saw some of the dorkiest white boy dancing I've even bared witness to. It didn't matter that this occurred during The Perfect Crime #2, one of the lesser songs in their catalog, it was still a joyous occasion. During The Island, keyboardist Jenny Conlee had her organ/synth go down completely, so in true make lemonade out of lemons fashion she grabbed her accordian and did her best to lay down the crazy, prog rock organ parts using the alternate instrument. It got her well deserved high fives from her bandmates at the conclusion of the song. The biggest highlight at any Decemberists show it the massive crowd involving epic The Mariner's Revenge Song. At the proper queue (usually guitarist Chris Funk's arm motions) the crowd screams as if being ingested by a large, viscious whale. However this time a large homemade costumed whale piloted by three humans came out and attacked drummer John Moenupending him and his snare drum.
If you ever put on plays, or pretended to be a rock star, or enjoyed making films or writing stories as a child/teenager--you must see this band live as that's the fantasy and sense of creativity they express most fully.


Amount of time, during a 50 minute set that Ghostface displayed the skills that make him one of the finest MC's in hip hop = 21 minutes

Amount of time, during the same 50 minute set that Ghostface spent hyping up how great he is, taking about how great Wu-Tang Clan is, playing medlies of Wu-Tang hits while having the crowd yell out most of the lyrics, talking about how many hits Wu-Tang has, plugging the new Wu-Tang album and how it's going to "change the game once again", bringing out plastic looking white chicks from the VIP section to dance on stage while his DJ played generic beats and encouraging the crowd to smoke weed = 29 minutes.

Blonde Redhead followed up that fiasco with a great set, playing alot of stuff of their new album. Another band I need to hear more of, and one that makes great, interesting pop structures dressed up in dissidence and experimental noisy output.

Sparklehorse closed out my night in a mellower fashion, opening with one of my favorite songs off of Good Morning Spider, Chaos of the Galaxy / Happy Man. Mark Linkous kept things moving, saying little betwen songs and letting the music do the talking. Another nice way to end a hectic Saturday in the desert.

1 Dirty Mind 71 (=)

2 The Start of Something 61 (=)

3 Judy 52 (+1)

4 Rise Up In The Dirt 52 (-1)

5 Leave Before the Lights Come On 45 (NEW)

6 The Coast Is Always Changing 37 (+2)

7 Trouble 37 (-2)

8 Estrella azul de España 37 (+1)

9 Introduction 36 (-2)

10 Use It 36 (-4)