Archive - mosdef, 2009

Greetings from Dallas. Local favorites the Old 97's are in the midst of a four night run at historic Sons of Hermann Hall, and are pledging no repeats (other than "Timebomb" to close out each night) during the four shows. I'll get a full review up with pics and video when I'm back in Houston (forgot my damn camera cord), but thought I'd pass along the setlists from 3 of the 4 shows - two of which, Monday and last night, I was lucky to attend. Last night blew Monday away, if you're wondering ("Makin' Love With You" and "W.I.F.E"!!). The final show is tonight, and astute fans of the band should be able to construct the evening's setlist based on the remaining songs that are in play. There's a small chance I missed one or two on either Mon/Tues, so please sound off in the comments if anythings missing. Wish I could go tonight but Slobberbone beats the ever-living hell out of the 97's in my book. Check out the setlists after the jump.

Thanks to the amazing folks at the Granada, we are giving away a pair of tickets to see two of Texas' best bands: The Gourds and Brave Combo this Saturday, January 2nd at the Dallas' best music venue. The Gourds are a BoT favorite, and are a hell of a lot more than just "Gin and Juice" - and are formidable multi-headed country, rock, bluegrass, and roots monster. The Grammy-Winning Brave Combo play a wholly different type of music (probably than any band in existence), masterfully blending zydeco, polka, salsa, rock, blues, and more into a melange that's wholly Texan and wholly danceable. It's gonna be a friggin' hoe-down. Check out videos from both bands below, and enter the ticket contest (winner selected randomly on 01/01/10) by commenting with YOUR NAME and CONTACT INFORMATION, EITHER AN EMAIL OR PHONE NUMBER! If you don’t give us a way to contact you, YOU CANNOT WIN.

A little over a month ago, I braved the soul-crushing drive from Houston to Dallas for a nice little weekend of music: moe. on Friday at the Lakewood and Rhett Miller and the O’s on Saturday at the Granada. The Saturday show had the bonus multiplier of being a benefit show for a worthy charity: The Breathe Easy Foundation, who raise money for Cystic Fibrosis research. Your primary familiarity with Rhett Miller is likely through his work with the Old 97’s, but he’s also released a string of solid solo records since 2001, beginning with my favorite in the group The Instigator. This was my first time seeing him fly solo; however, having seen the 97’s around twelve times, I figured I could count on a few things from his performance. Namely that it would be high-energy, crowd-pleasing, and feature at least a few sexually-confusing moments lost in Rhett’s charm. When he’s onstage performing, the man radiates an earnest love for both his craft and the crowd who’s there to revel in it. The lyrics he writes are packed with clever and quotable one-liners and catchy-but-not-cloying choruses that lend themselves quite perfectly to beer-buzzed singalongs. Before Rhett took the stage though, one of the best new bands in Dallas music, The O’s, were due to perform. Well, technically the first performer of the night was Salim Nourrallah, but we unfortunately missed him (blame it on gravity and/or the Barley House). Read on for a full recap of the night along with plenty of pics and videos after the jump.

We are thrilled to be giving away a pair of tickets to see Denton’s biggest alt-country badasses: Slobberbone - at the Granada on December 30th. Don’t miss your chance to see ‘em, because they have been getting together very infrequently ever since bassist Brian Lane moved to the Sunshine State in 2005. Scott H. Biram is no slouch either, so there’s a good chance you’ll be interested in this show just to see him on the undercard. Check out videos from both bands below, and enter the ticket contest (winner selected randomly on 12/29) by commenting with YOUR NAME and CONTACT INFORMATION, EITHER AN EMAIL OR PHONE NUMBER! If you don’t give us a way to contact you, YOU CANNOT WIN.

Thanks as always to the Granada!!! Stay tuned for future giveaways and see you at Slobberbone!

When Eggs and I first talked about doing a "Best of the Decade" list, I thought it would be easy. I’ve been writing best of lists for the past five or six years, and I usually finish them in a day, two tops. I thought this would be that, gimme a week I’ll give you a list. Nuh uh. Nope. Not even close. I had no idea what I would be up against, and knowing what I know now, this might not have been one of the better ideas I’ve had in my life. It was nearly impossible. It’s been almost a month in the making, and I still don’t think I’ve done a job adequate enough to fully capture what I think about the past ten years. Can you really remember what music meant to you in 2000? 2001? 2006? Think about your life then compared to now. Like, what? How do I do that? Well here you have it. Nights of no sleep, tons and tons of beer, a few dozen handfuls of what I hope were legal pills, and a shit load of anxiety. I’ve tried to rate the following albums using a method that makes sense in a kinda sorta way. The records on this list were judged (as objectively as possible) on (1) how they have stood up over time, (2) how I think they will continue to stand up over time, (3) what they meant to the culture in which they stood and now stand, (4) how well they have furthered the conversation of what music says about its listeners and non-listeners (which is why there will never ever be a country record on any list you’ll ever read, hopefully), (5) how well they have changed the music that came after them, and (6) their musical repeatability; that is, do I crave listening to them if they’ve been put away for a good amount of time. Oh and (7) how little they resemble a jam-band record. I’m probably wrong on almost all of them, and the past month or so has more than likely been a huge waste of my time and energy, but at least I had an excuse to listen to the music that means everything to me. I hope you enjoy.

My "Best of the Decade" List can be found after the jump

I came across this video yesterday as I was making my daily read of Houston Press' Rocks Off Blog, and was immediately impressed with how the videographer (W. Ross Wells from Zenfilm, the same guy who directed the SugarHill video in our last post) made our fair city look so nice. It features local up-and-comers The Tontons on stage at the House of Blues, but also shuffles through a variety of clips showcasing some of Houston's hottest spots. If you are from Houston, this video is well worth the watch; if you're not, check it out, and fall in love with our city. It really is a great place to be!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure to be invited to Houston's famed recording studios, SugarHill, to take part in their twelfth episode of the internationally webcast radio program, Live From SugarHill. My job was to be the "Audience of One," which basically meant I got to sit in a comfy chair in the studio and enjoy sets from Austin's Tody Castillo and Houston's Winter Wallace. Not too difficult if you ask me! It was such a great experience, and was a completely different way to take in a live performance. The staff at SugarHill were quite welcoming and hospitable, and made me feel incredibly comfortable through the whole event. I have great memories from that evening, and the fact that it was completely documented on film will make those memories last so much longer. W. Ross Wells and his viral media company Zenfilm put together a nice hour and a quarter video from the session, which you can view below.

Thanks so much to Gina Miller, Dan Workman and the rest of the SugarHill staff for inviting me to be the "Audience of One" during their year-anniversary twelfth episode of Live From SugarHill. It was an experience unlike any other!

Note from the baconator: Greetings BoTheads. Give a warm welcome to our newest Dallas contributor: Dillon (TBD) Lamb. A nut-punch will suffice in lieu of a welcome if you prefer; he’d actually enjoy it. Dillon is a fellow Aggie minority, in that he likes good music and voted for the right dude last November. Stay tuned for more from him in the future… keep it greasy - bacon.

I arrived at the Granada with just enough time to nab a beer, select my own personal standing area, and settle in for my first chance at catching Neko Case up close and personal. First up were some good ol’ Austin Texas boys called the Oh No! Oh My!. They have recently altered the name of the band to omit the dueling exclamation points, and while this may have been to make Google searches easier, it also parallels their musical inclinations; that is to say there was nothing too remarkable about these guys. If I am in a good mood, then maybe Oh No Oh My can pass as a more cheerful Wolf Parade, while on a worse day they may just come off as a(nother) Shins spawn. At times they could hit upon a kind of groovy, feel-good buoyancy, but these moments were marred by tiresome lyrics (“cut like a knife”), and the inability to prevent catchy from turning into cutesy. Read on for my take on Neko Case, as well as a couple more photos cribbed from a stranger’s flickr account after the jump.

To be completely honest with you, the main reason I went to Metric at Warehouse Live was not because of my love for the band – heck, I really had never heard them before that night – rather it was my infatuation with lead singer Emily Haines. She's sexy. Dead sexy. Like, I want to do extremely naughty things with her. Too far? Her vocal work on the Broken Social Scene classic "Anthem's for a Seventeen Year Old Girl" can not be matched, so despite never really hearing a Metric tune, I was pretty sure I'd like them. I arrived late to a barrage of noise as I opened the double doors leading into Warehouse Live's Ballroom. Metric was full on into their third or fourth song which was a heavy mix of dance music and almost punk rock. I wasn't expecting such an intense sound coming from Metric, but I was immediately pleased with the outcome. Haines leaped and bounded across the stage in her golden mini-dress with an endless amount of energy that would make even Sonic the Hedgehog tired. Her polished band of darkly dressed players, including drummer Joules Scott-Key, guitarist James Shaw and bassist Josh Winstead, never missed a beat throughout the lengthy set of dance-infused pop and indie-rock. With all the energy emitted by Haines and the rest of the band via the music, the crowd seemed to swell with each gradual shift in tempo and rhythm. For a Monday night show, Houston definitely showed its numbers by filling the Ballroom all the way back to the soundboard. Who knew Metric had such a grandiose following? Especially in Space City...

I had a great time shooting Ms. Haines in all her sparkly glory, so feel free to check out my photos from the show after the jump.

The initial lineup for the 41st edition of New Orleans' Jazzfest has been announced. The list includes some serious highlights. First weekend: Allman Brothers, My Morning Jacket, Dr. John, The Black Crowes, Band of Horses, George Clinton and P-Funk, King Sunny Ade, the funky Meters, and Sam Bush. Second weeekend: Pearl Jam, Panic, The Dead Weather, Mule, B.B. King, Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band, Van Morrison, Galactic, Jeff Beck, Stanley Clark, and the Old Crow Medicine Show. This is one of their best lineups in a good while, and depending on the aftershows, Phish tour, and the remaining artist TBA will likely be enough to get me back to my first Jazzfest since '06.

Check out the kick-ass line-up after the jump!