Concert Roundup

Lot of shows coming through Paris with more being added all the time.
Peter, Bjorn and John - March 2nd
Reel Big Fish - March 6th
Amos Lee - March 11th
The Black Keys - March 15th
KT Tunstall - March 16th
Cake - March 19th
Jamiroquai - March 23rd
Matt and Kim - March 24th
The Go! Team - March 25th
Slayer - March 26th
The Twilight Singers - March 31st
Nas - April 5th
The Kills - April 6th
Belle & Sebastian - April 11th
Portugal the Man - April 13th
The Dears = April 15th
Deerhoof - April 19th
The Walkmen - May 20th
Queens of the Stoneage - May 23rd
Fleet Foxes - May 3oth
Bright Eyes - June 22nd
Iron Maiden - June 27th 28th

Iron & Wine L'Alhambra Fevrier 17

I was able to catch Iron & Wine here in Paris at l'alhambra on the seventeenth for the last date of this leg of the tour. As I've said here before I really like the new album and they played a nice selection from it including one of my favorites Tree by the River.
Sam is touring with a full on band so he didn't do many of his quieter songs although he came out alone for the encore and did Flightless Bird, American Mouth. The full band allowed him to rework some of his older material, The Sea and the Rhythm was almost unrecognizable, but in a good way, and Lions Mane sounded really good sped up and given a little funk.

Sam mentioned that this was the last show of a longer than usual tour for them and they were feeling tired but it didn't show. It seems like the best live shows are when the band is having fun and the band was having a blast. The horn player and the roadie danced almost the entire time, after his solos the horn guy would be so excited he would dance a little jig, it was great to see. Sam even did a dance during some of the jammed out sections. The Guitarist looked like Gene Ween which counts for bonus awesome points in my book.

A little bit of Boy with a Coin.
All in all it was an amazing show. Iron & Wine have been on my "must see" list for years and the wait was well worth it although now that I've had a fix I want more. They fire uo the tour once again in about a month hitting England before heading back to the states, go out and see them.

Video Chain

The newest New Pornographers video is pretty awesome and among the talented cast is one Ted Leo.

Ted Leo wrote one of my favorite songs last year, Bottled in Cork, and the video is hilarious. The dude in the crowd scene at the end with the nice beard and the emotion written all over his face is the lead singer of Titus Andronicus, Patrick Stickles.

Titus Andronicus put out a rocking album last year and one of the best songs on it is An Airing of Grievances.
Bonus info, Tom Scharpling, the man responsible for the above mentioned New Pornographers and Ted Leo video is directing the next Titus Andronicus video.

Zombie Stuff: Action Figures

Mcfarlane toys is making a set of Walking Dead action figures that look pretty cool. They have two series in the works, one based on the long running comic book series and another based on the hit television series.
THE WALKING DEAD Series 1
Officer Rick Grimes
Michonne
Zombie Lurker
Zombie Roamer
THE WALKING DEAD Series 2
Deputy Rick Grimes
Daryl Dixon
Zombie Walker
Zombie Biter

Shuffle 4 mardi 8 fevrier 2011

Drinks in fancy glasses

I got the chance to attend a universal music showcase consisting of two known signed acts and a few prospective bands. The event was pretty cool, it was in a nice venue and the drinks were free.

Aude rocking

The line up consisted of Wladimir, Housse De Racket, Marvin, Aude Henneville and Arthur Le Forestier with the headliners Fefe and Coco Royal & Jenifer.

Fefe doing his thing and doing it well.

Fefe is an established act and really stole the show. The difference in his performance and the new bands was pronounced, he owned the stage and worked the crowd very effectively. His Micheal Jackson cover drove the Jackson crazed French crazy.

Fefe had the crowd moving.

I really felt for the new acts in the showcase, they only had two songs to impress a music industry heavy audience. That's a high pressure situation, no warm up for a performance that could potentially kick start a career, so much respect for them.

Housse De Racket

That having been said, there was only one group that I really liked from the crop of newcomers, Housse De Racket(that translates to Tennis bag). They have a big indie rock sound that was pretty cool and they got up to speed within the two song limit. Some of the other bands were ok for what they were doing , singer songwriter, bluesy chick rock, another singer songwriter they just didn't quite have that undefinable something.

Jenifer wearing tight pants

Once again big thanks for my girl at universal.

B Movie Banksy

Last year the awesome (maybe) documentary Exit through the Gift Shop came out, the movie was sold as being about Banksy but it really wasn't. Exit through the Gift Shop was about the meeting of commerce and street art and what street cred means or doesn't mean. All in all it was a great film but for something more focused on Banksy check out B Movie. Oddly enough, the interview segments seem to be outtakes from Exit Through the Gift Shop.

More than a little late

My wife asked me the other day why I hadn't done an album of the year post, I had written out some notes but had forgotten to put it in a post. So with out any more thought here are my notes in the order I wrote them done in.

Girl Talk - All Day Beyond a doubt this was my favorite album of the year.
Arcade Fire - the Suburbs

The Black Keys - Brothers

Broken Bells - Broken Bells

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
The National - High Violet
Local Natives - Gorilla Manor

Wolf Parade - Expo 86
Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More
Sleigh Bells - treats
Yea Sayer - Odd Blood

Freelance Whales - Weather vanes

Titus Andronicus - the Monitor