Metric + Franz Ferdinand @ Bumbershoot Review

The seemingly infallible Franz Ferdinand have proved yet again that they are never disappointment. Add their uncanny songwriting abilities to their raucous Scottish accents and an incredibly clean live show and you begin to see why their appeal is undeniable (everyone loves Scottish accents). 7/10 because the girl next to me kept closing her eyes and falling over into me and she was really bony and it hurt quite a bit.

But Metric! What can I say, how many female singers can actually pull off that ridiculous pose where they get down on all fours like a cat? Not to say that the rest of the band doesn't matter (but like, clearly they don't) but it's pretty hard to take your eyes off Emily Haines slinking around the stage. There were at least four or five guys yelling 'give me your phone number!' or 'have my babies!' to incredible effect. It definitely looked like she wanted to have this one guy's children really bad right after he yelled at her and I bet she definitely wanted to give him her phone number too. I felt pretty stupid for not yelling at her too :( 9/10 because no one crowd surfed and I got to touch the security guard's hand right after he helped Emily Haines off stage.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs + Cold War Kids - Bumbershoot Review

When the Cold War Kids started their set, the floor of the main stage was maybe 1/4 full and by the time they ended the floor was almost 2/3 full, which was either a testament to the quality of their music or a testament to the star power of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Cold War Kids aren't a band I'm in love but their live set was great; they have tons of energy, tons of charisma and Jonnie Russell can sing like a beast live. 8.5/10

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the other hand weren't as cohesive live, but there was no denying that Karen O. just oozes the type of character that makes people want to worship her. She moves like a gypsy and has a habit of doing tiny things that make the crowd go wild (i.e. taking mouthfuls of water and spraying them 10 feet up in the air or slowly undressing throughout the course of the show). Her vocals are a slightly too dynamic to really be captured successfully in a live setting and the moshing that was really more like the slow crush of 10,000 people got un-fun incredibly quickly, but all-in-all the Yeah Yeah Yeahs delivered what their thousands of screaming fans wanted. Which was pretty much: Karen O. 8/10.

Matt & Kim @ Bumbershoot Review

Matt and Kim are too earnest and undeniably happy to be playing music to screaming college kids to not be enjoyed. They lead in to a few of their songs with goofy covers of joyous, raucous punk numbers that fit perfectly with the rest of their discography and the whole field eventually became standing room only. 8.5/10 because I like, totes saw them on like, Jimmy Kimmel and it like, blew my like, mind, they were like, sooooooo gooood.

Natalie Portman's Shaved Head @ Bumbershoot Review

The sheer number of pre-tweens at this concert should have been enough to warrant opting out of this show, but I stuck it out and was rewarded with images of twelve year olds smoking cigarettes in vague rebellious attempts to stick it to their parents, large collections of bros with padawan braids and some fool shouting 'did you buy your necklace at the Red Light??" to which NPSH replied 'uh, yes?...'. The sadness on NPHS' faces was visible when it turned out pretweens care more about their giant inflatable turtle and seeing how often they can crowd surf than they do about any song currently being played out. 6.5/10 because I pity NPSH.

Katy Perry @ Bumbershoot Review

Somewhere between her horrendous singing voice, the poor mixing of her bands levels and her saying "My boobies almost fell out on that last one," I decided I should leave the mainstage. 3.5/10 because Katy Perry is a babe who looks like Zooey Deschanel.

Mystery Bumbershoot Comedy Guest Revealed!!

Long story short it's Sarah Silverman! And Aziz ansari of human giant (who was replacing Nick Swardson in the line-up) was funny as always.

Bumbershoot - Day 1 Top Picks

Bumbs away! I'm heading to bed currently in the lap of the luxury at the Olive 8 hotel, prepping myself for the first day of Bumbershoot. The first day is throwing down hard, with big players like Katy Perry and The All American Rejects and Sheryl Crow (oh god) dominating the fray (witty wordplay), but here are the shows that I would put my money on for Saturday the 4th:

12:30 - Dyno Jamz

If you are looking for music that is out of the ordinary, this is the band to go and see. They won EMP/SFM's Sound Off! Competition and secured themselves a spot in the lineup, go see this 8 piece hip-hop group laden with live horns and heavy on soul and judge for yourself if their victory was well deserved. Possibly the weirdest group playing the festival?

2:30 - Natalie Portman's Shaved Head

Look past the goofy, cheese-ball, mega-hip, obscure band name that instantly rips off of someone else's fame and yet somehow subliminally makes us want to endorse this band even more and you'll find music that sounds exactly the same. You like it because you are too much of a teenager who trolls blogs not to like it (self-reference???!!! not really).

6:00 - Matt & Kim

Incredibly dance-able and incredibly positive. Listening to Matt & Kim will make you feel like your life is full of opportunities waiting to be seized instead of full of miserable experiences that only reinforce your self-unworth and the reality that no matter how hard you try the cute girl who works in the corner cubicle probably won't remember your name the next time you talk to her.

7:15 - Aziz Ansari & Red Wine Boys

"RRRAAAAaaaaannnddddyyy!!!" The whole festival may just be worth it for the comedic gold of Aziz Ansari (the Red Wine Boys are supposed to be good too). Aziz has had roles in Observe & Report, Scrubs and the newest Apatow production, Funny People, all of which have been off the heezy (and his stand up comedy is even better).

9:30 - De la Soul

Dis dat real hip hop shit. But like, for real. De La Soul is what every hip hop group should be: A.) beyond rapping about coke and hoes B.) funky as hell and C.) not club rap. This promises to be one of the most spirited and crowd engaging shows at the entire festival. Come for the soulful hip-hop, stay for the chance to maybe take a toke of some dreaded high-school kid's joint before he gets forcefully removed from the show (something he can brag to his friends about later).

Here is a strangely appropriate track just recently released (it should be making an appearance in EA's NBA Live 10):

Matt & Kim - Daylight (Troublemaker Remix Feat. De La Soul)

Twitter @ that shit while you're there

love,

@dylanstark

Yacht + More Free Instrumentals/Acapellas

It looks like Yacht - or Should I say Y▲CHT - has decided to release the instrumentals to their latest album 'See Mystery Lights' for free download. Yacht (Jona Bechtolt and Claire Evans, previously just Jona) are from our good ol' hometown of Portland, Oregon and are signed on to DFA Records. Their music has gotten consistent love from the indie critics circle* and they get consistent love on the local level as well (and generally tend to have a mad fun live show). PDX-hip-dance-rock with a little dash of dem hot rap beats thrown in to the mix. (*pitchfork)

Yacht - See Mystery Lights Instrumentals

And because I've been seeing a bunch of really shitty remix contests around lately (why why why would you submit your stuff to a remix contest that's top prize is 'we will blog about you?') I'm going to throw out my favorite acapellas, new and old. There is no stupid top prize to give away that means absolutely nothing but if you do a remix (even if it's shitty) and send it to me I will make you a t-shirt that says "I made a hyphy remix and all I got was this stupid t-shirt"

Crystal Castles - Air War [Acapella]

Chromeo - Fancy Footwork [Acapella]

Amanda Blank - Might Like You Better [Acapella]

Simian Mobile Disco - Hustler [Acapella Snippet Looped]

Dylan

Old School Para One

I've got to stop posting these old shiitz, but it's hard to get certain things out of my head, such as Para One's astoundingly catchy rhythm stabs. Para One is a French producer on Institubes who has produced consistently original work but has kind of disappeared off the face of the earth since the release of his album Epiphanie in 2006. It's incredibly hard to pinpoint his style, but the "clubbier" stuff he makes (or rather made) tends to have heavy, heavy kick drums (909???) and hypnotizing synth/sample stab rhythms that make you want to throw your arms in the air like you are jogging onto a crowded basketball court as your favorite jock jam blasts through the PA.

On the other hand, he was recently asked by conductor Laurence Equilbey to reinterpret his choice of classical music and the results are catchy, creative and incredibly 70's. Hey it's just like what people did when synthesizers were first invented! Lol! Except it's like twice as good! and half as cheesy! 

Daft Punk - The Prime Time of Your Life (Para One Remix)

Boys Noize - My Head (Para One Remix)

Para One - Passion