Challengers

The New Pornographers disc Challengers is probably my most played album of 2007 so far, they have a new colorful video out for the title track.


My youngest son and i still really like Letter to an Occupant and Sing Me Spanish Techno.

Del the Funky Homosapien Who threw that?

My wife and i decided to go to the Del show at Higher ground Sunday night at the last minute. After a rare day with no time spent on the law we decided to cap it off with something just for us, it was either 2 days in Paris(which was showing in Montpelier) or Del. We opted for Del, i'd been really wanting to go for quite awhile but with Gretchen's appellate shit fast approaching it's due date it looked like she would be spending Sunday evening in the library(yes she is in the library until midnight most nights).
Over all the show was great, it probably worked out to about $2 per group so we defiantly got our money's worth. The crowd was pretty interesting, not a hipster in sight but several hippie kids and almost all young and white.
The show started with Hieroglyphics newest member Knowbody. He was good in the non gangster not quite full of himself backpacker style. Then came a couple of white kids from Brooklyn that were good(Gretchen thought one sounded like Ad Rock) Next up was Junk Science, another three piece suited brooklynite. He sounded great and really invited a lot of crowd participation. Next was Bukue 1 who next to Del was probably my favorite. He went out of his way to make it known that he was a rapper, graffiti artist and skateboarder and at one point he did the sprinkler. He was a lot of fun with a couple of forays into a dancehall reggae style. At one point we had to shout cheddar and butter repeatedly.
And then it got weird. Devin the Dude and the Coughee Brothaz took the stage and as Gretchen put it things got "surreal", it was more cartoonish than anything else but let me run through their set with you. The first three songs were about weed(they are heavily in favor of legalizing it and smoking as much as possible regardless). The next song was about pussy and weed. Then there were two more songs about just pussy(one was accapella) followed by one dedicated to fucking fat chicks("too much pork for one fork" being the standout line) at that point my wife stepped out. Another song about weed and then one about weed and blowjobs and then one about the economy(bums now ask for three dollars instead of one) at that point i got another beer and gave it my full attention. Keep in mind that i've been to a Cyprus Hill show.
Del hit the stage at midnight. He came on strong(like it was the nine deuce) performing everything i wanted t hear, Mistadobalina, Dr. Bombay, False Alarm, Ahonetwo, and Virus from the Deltron album and ended it with Clint Eastwood from the Gorillaz album mixed in were several new songs from his upcoming album, the 11th Hour. The concert ended a bit strangely when apparently someone in the crowd threw something at the DJ causing Del and his sidekick A Plus to freak out. A plus went on a triad while Del repeated Who threw that over and over, for a couple of minutes i thought t was a new song because the DJ had a beat going at the time. After another lecture from aplus and then one from Del which included him pointing out that it was a peaceful gathering and then offering an ass kicking to the thrower he had everyone give then peace sign said he had one more song to do and then walked off stage.

Download - Del - Mistadobolina

Put it together

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done

Beirut revisited

Trendwhore has video of the entire Beirut show i caught in Montreal.
They also have all the audio. Check it out.

Hot Hot Heat @ Higher Ground

The Hot Hot Heat aren't a band i would usually go out of my way to see but i had a good friend in town and really wanted him to see Higher Ground so away we went. I was beyond pleasantly surprised with the evening. Hot Hot Heat put on a dancy new wavish set that was a lot of fun and i found that somehow i know several of their songs.
What was really surprising was the great opener De Novo Dahl from Nashville. They had a great funky My Morning Jacket thing happening. Beduin Sound Clash also brough their ska/rock steady thing that was pretty cool.
Download - De Novo Dahl - The Funk

Dragon's Gate, Enfield, NH

I've spent a lot of time at Dragon's Gate tattoos over the past couple of weeks. Scott and Joanna are amazing artists and tattooists, if you're looking to get some new ink there's no one better.
My arm.
Phil's arm.
Ryan's leg.

Two things

Two things i forgot to mention about the Beirut show.
1. Often the band would be playing the mandolin the ukeleli and a slightly bigger ukeleli and those guys all stood next to each other on stage so if you just watched that side it looked like a band of giants with tiny guitars.
2. The t-shirts were cheap and so was the domestic beer.

Beirut in Montreal

As usual I'm late with this post but i had a good friend in town so... We were able to catch Beirut's second night (of three) at La Salla Rossa in Montreal. It was my first time in that venue and it was very intimate. I'm guessing the room held 250 or so and it was sold out. The show was right on. I expected it to be a reeling sloppy mess and it was and it was perfect.
I don't know the names of many Beirut songs but i know we heard Nantes, Elephant Gun(my favorite song), A Sunday Smile and Idle Days. Everything sounded great, just like the studio tracks but better. After Elephant Gun ended they were setting up for the next song when one guy started singing the humming part at the end and the band actually took it up and played a few more minutes of the song! Elephant Gun being my favorite track i was flipping out! You can probably tell from the pictures but I'll lay it out, they played the last song of the night on the floor. It was funny, i could see one of the horn players gesture to the floor from the stage and Zach just shrugged and grabbed his mike and climbed down along with the rest of the band.
The Flying Club Cup site has a video performance for almost every song on the album, it's a must see.

p.s. Thanks to Sam for the pictures.