My Morning Jacket | photo by WHITperson
This week’s NYC concert calendar features another diverse mix of shows, including a six-night run by the National, My Morning Jacket at MSG, American Babies at Mercury Lounge, and two nights of Atlas Sound, among many other interesting shows. READ MORE
(updated on 10/20/11 for Chicago additions)
Longtime readers already know that I’ve got a sweet spot in my heart (er, ears) for Steve Kimock. That’s especially true when Steve — in one of his many and varied musical projects — links up with funky-ass bassman, Bobby Vega. I documented one of my favorite Kimock & Vega projects a while back with a podcast called KVHW ‘Down in the Wetlands’, touting some of my favorite cuts from KVHW (Kimock, Vega, Hurtz, and White) shows from the late 90s (which I highly recommend checking out if you’re at all interested in Kimock’s sound). Unfortunately, after that project disbanded around 2000-2001, catching Steve with Bobby on bass duties became a bit of a rarity…especially out here on the East Coast.
So you can imagine how stoked I was to hear the news that Steve will be reuniting with Bobby and a few other interesting friends for some shows this fall in Denver, Cali, Chicago and Brooklyn. Here are all the deets…
Soulive’s inaugural three-day outdoor festival, The Royal Family Affair, kicks off this weekend up at Stratton Mountain in Vermont. They just announced the schedule for the weekend’s festivities, which includes sets by Chromeo, Big Gigantic, Soulive and plenty of their Royal Family label brethren.
If you’re looking for nice midsize festival with lots of funk and groove-oriented music to dance to, this seems like a really solid bet. Check it… READ MORE
The lineup for Jam Cruise was announced first thing this morning here on the West Coast, and I couldn’t be happier that I’ve already taken the plunge and pre-booked a cabin for the 10th anniversary of the floating festival that everybody has been raving about for years. This will be my first year on the boat, so I’ll be seeing plenty of unbelievably great music all while sailing the seas and partying with my fellow like-minded fans. Can’t wait.
One of the bigger reveals of the lineup has been the port destinations that the cruise is choosing, and this time the festival is setting sail a full week after New Year’s Eve with a January 9th departure n Ft. Lauderdale to make stops in Labadee, Haiti and then onto Falmouth, Jamaica. The whole thing winds back down on January 14th, 2012. Umphrey’s McGee, Surprise Me Mr. Davis, Galactic, The New Deal, Shpongle, New Mastersounds, EOTO, and Orgone are just some of the artists I’m excited to get a crack at seeing this year, and there’s tons more talent rounding out the lineup this year.
As hedonistic as the whole vacation is, I’m actually proud that the organizers thought to bring a stop by Haiti into the equation. More about those efforts were detailed in today’s press release… READ MORE
Last week, I posted about Steve Kimock’s Wednesday-night NYC residency at Sullivan Hall, and as promised, I was able to hit the second show of the residency this week. Steve’s crew for week two featured Marco Benevento on keys and circuit-bending toys, Marc Friedman on bass, and Adam Deitch manning the drum kit, altogether a stunning mix of solid NYC talent for what amounted to be a killer show.
Overall, the tone of the show was loose and fun, with Steve pushing the boundaries of these “NY youngsters” and testing their improvisational chops. Songs were really just used as vehicles for the improvisation, and nearly every “song” they played took on that open-ended jamming approach, moving way beyond the structure of the tune. Of course, with musicians this skilled and adept at improv, that’s definitely where the real magic happens, and that seemed to be the main purpose of the night. Given the looseness of the songs they played, it was clear that these guys had barely rehearsed together and that approach was entirely on purpose; they wanted it to be totally fresh. READ MORE
Pretty Lights @ North Coast Music Festival | Photo by Chris Monaghan
I’ve been pretty inspired by Pretty Lights lately and I’ve been rocking his music ever since seeing his set at Outside Lands this year, but I’m bummed that we didn’t get the new Pretty Lights with drummer extraordinaire Adam Deitch. He adds a whole element to the sound that really matters when you’re catching it live. Let’s first see how they sounded together at Red Rocks earlier this year… READ MORE
Photo via @CoSlive
One of the best sets I caught this weekend at Outside Lands was the daytime Pretty Lights set on the Sutro Stage. While we were bummed that Adam Deitch didn’t make the trek out West and was absent at both the festival set and the DJ’s late night show at the newly remodeled Independent, the set still totally raged and got everyone grooving in the right way to get day one of the festival going. I had a blast.
After this weekend, he’s off for a week or so and then he’ll head back out on tour heavily in the fall. He’ll be closing the entire run with two nights in Telluride, taking a page from anyone who’s anyone in the live touring scene this summer (ahem @Phish and @MarcoBenevento). Those shows will be tight. Read on for the dates. READ MORE
prettylightsmusic.com
Happy Monday, folks. I’m excitedly catching up on news today after an amazing weekend here in SF, and one of the first things I’m checking on is how the Wanderlust Festival went down in Squaw Valley here in Northern Cali. I wouldn’t normally get too amped about that festival but I saw news before the weekend that made my radar perk up. Turns out that Pretty Lights was booked for the festival and made an announcement last week stating that he’d be bringing a new drummer along for the party. That new drummer is none other than Adam Deitch, a true ripper and a drummer of immense talent and natural ability. This news effectively bummed out everyone in my crew that had yet to purchase a ticket to the Pretty Lights late-night booked after Outside Lands, a sure-fire rage fest at the Independent.
In addition to that huge announcement, the band had a pretty stellar week otherwise. They announced a sell-out crowd will be joining them on August 7th at Red Rocks Ampitheatre, and they also released their second of three EP’s planned for this year. Go over to PrettyLightsMusic.com to download a copy. READ MORE
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