Song of the Day is..."Go On and Say It" by Blind Pilot.
I can't stop listening to Blind Pilot. It was Portugal. The Man for a long time and now it has shifted to Blind Pilot. I could feature every song of theirs in this blog but I won't. Just a few to keep you interested and excited to see them perform.
I've been afraid to write lately. I just had that realization as I sat down to do this entry. I've been so antsy to be regularly writing again as I was when I started but some things have taken over my life and I feel a bit trapped. I have so much in here but a bit nervous to somewhat construct the words or reveal what I want. Being selective about your feelings, emotions and ways of expressing yourself is a difficult balancing act. Something I have never been very good at. The smoke alarm is low on batteries and I hear it chirping in the background distracting my every 30th stroke or so on the keyboard. I look like a mad musical scientist hunched over this keyboard with three screens in front of me all displaying different things. I have Blind Pilot playing on one screen, Wilco's "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" documentary on silent on the third screen and in the middle, the blog screen sectioned by the article about the riots in London.
I am like a zombie at the moment. I am on four hours of sleep so that I could enjoy the company of Mr. James Mercer and his new traveling band, The Shins, play in an intimate setting at the WOW Hall in Eugene, Oregon. After the show, I hung out a bit with new lead guitarist for this tour, Jessica Dobson, who is the most kick ass chick in rock right now. So that left me with a couple of hours of shut-eye after returning home at 1:30 in the morning. Of course I couldn't come down from the high for a while. I had to write a little bit about it, had to process it all, post some pictures on FB, and listen to a few of their songs before bed.
I realize a lot of people can't keep up with the ever-changing members of The Shins but who can. The Shins is a project of James Mercer. He is a solo artist with a few featured collaborative artists. I have talked about his work in earlier blogs describing his contributions to independent rock and roll. Having gotten a jump start from fellow band, Modest Mouse, The Shins were catapulted to stardom from the movie Garden State and that helped Mercer continue the project and diligently create more and more albums. He has rotating band members as back up music for his vision, learning to play every chord he has written, sing every note he has written, and produce every sound he has envisioned. His new band consists of Joe Plummer, drummer for Modest Mouse, Ron Lewis from Fruit Bats, the tried and true punk veteran, Dave Hernandez, and now a new addition of lead guitarist Jessica Dobson, an extremely beautiful and uber talented woman from Seattle. With a group like that, all of them are icons to marvel at and the sound was incredible. I always say James Mercer might have the best voice there is right now but this leads to me introduce the rival voice, in my opinion, Israel Nebeker, from Blind Pilot.
Blind Pilot is a band from none other than Portland, Oregon (how f-ing lucky am I to live here?)
They are considered an American Indie Folk band (a category I so desperately desperately love). The group's single, "Go On, Say It", was chosen to be a Single of the Week on July 7, 2008 on iTunes potentially yielding approximately 2 million downloads. As of July 22, 2008, their debut album, 3 Rounds and a Sound, has reached number 13 on the Billboard top Digital Albums chart.
This band is so very Oregon. They even broke out of their shell to expose themselves as a band for the first time touring by bicycle. They did an entire Northwest tour in 2008, biking from Bellingham, Washington to San Diego, California using custom bicycle trailers to carry their equipment. After getting some recognition, they (Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski) decided to add four more band members completing their six-piece sensation. The band now consists of Israel Nebeker as lead vocalist, Ryan Dobrowski (drums and backup vocals, co-founder of Blind Pilot), Luke Ydstie on upright bass and backup vocals, Kati Claborn (banjo, dulcimer, backup vocals), Ian Krist (vibraphones), and Dave Jorgensen (keyboards, trumpet).
They decided to embark on a U.S. tour in 2009 and this has launched them to stardom quickly. With the folk sound of the Northwest gaining more and more popularity, they seemed to find a niche right at the right time and have catapulted their way to the top opening for bands like Counting Crows, The Hold Steady, and The Decemberists. Their resume includes a long list of big name music festivals as well as theme songs for finale seasons of both Californication and Chuck with "3 Rounds and a Sound".
Feeling successful and ready to take bigger strides in the music industry, they decided to release on iTunes a live EP featuring a cover of Gillian Welch's "Look at Miss Ohio" and what was deemed a new release at the time, "Get It Out". The EP was mixed and recorded by Tucker Martine, best known for his work with The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie, and R.E.M.
They have announced this year that they will be officially releasing their new album, We Are The Tide, on September 13, 2011. I absolutely cannot wait for this album. You will receive a sneak peek of this album in almost its entirety at MusicFest NW this year at the beginning of September. Don't forget to get your tickets soon!
I really cannot believe that my favorite bands at the moment are all from Portland, Oregon. Even another one of my favorite bands, Starfucker, premiered their new video at The Red Fox on Albina on Sunday evening. I unfortunately was in Eugene for the evening, so I was not able to preview it with the other fans, but I'm sure it's amazing. One of these days I will feature some of my favorite videos and I venture to guess they hit high on my favorite videos list. They are quirky and fun and of all synth hop bands, they use sound to the umpteenth degree, to its fullest extent, to make the best sound ever. They are incredible.
Also, don't forget to purchase an Y La Bamba ticket for this Friday at the Doug Fir. I am sure tickets are selling fast and they are also a mesmerizing eclectic band from up here in NoPo that I featured on the blog a couple of weeks ago. I will be at the concert this Friday cheering them on. Other Portland bands to look out for that are mind-blowingly awesome are:
1. The Decemberists.
2. Gossip.
3. The Dandy Warhols.
4. M. Ward (from She & Him).
5. Floater.
6. Y La Bamba.
7. Portugal. The Man.
8. Starfucker.
9. Blind Pilot.
10. Pink Martini.
11. Quasi.
12. The Thermals...
I could go on. Of course Elliott Smith will always be remembered as a true Portlander. Remember old bands like Hole? Courtney Love is from Portland and there are many popular bluegrass bands that gained popularity over the last few years like The Foghorn Stringband, Jackstraw and the Water Tower Bucket Boys. And so many bands have relocated here that it's hard not to call them ours such as The Shins, Modest Mouse, Spoon, and Sleater-Kinney. People flock here because they have an audience that adores them, will give them a small town feel of coziness, a bigger city full of great neighborhoods and tons of venues, along with the rolling hills and majestic mountaintops of Oregon hovering over the city. (If that's not a sell, I don't know what is).
IN OTHER NEWS: I just read that Bob Dylan and Jack White (are you breathing?) are recording some of Hank Williams' "lost" songs that were never originally done by Hank himself. Need I say more? I'm freaking out. Can I just get a little itsy bitsy taste? The entire set will feature other artists but these two caught my eye most certainly. The songs have been crafted from old notes they found in Williams' leather briefcase. It will be titled The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams and will be released on October 4th from Dylan's personal recording label. Sweet!
Radiohead has just announced today that they will be releasing a remix collection soon? God love Thom Yorke but can we just hold the phone for a minute? They just came out with an album that I am still digesting and will take some time to digest more of. He has collaborated with several surprising artists in the recent past, including Jay-Z to create Jaydiohead and other bizarre eccentric projects. A remix collection? If you wait until 2012 or 2013, I promise I will be looking forward to it.
Watch the Throne, the highly anticipated collaborative album for Jay-Z and Kanye West is now out in the world released exclusive for iTunes. For all of you rap lovers out there, I am sure this is music to your ears to know this has been finally made available to their ginormous audience. Happy listening!
For those of you lucky enough to have landed some expensively awesome tickets to Lollapalooza this year, I'm sure you're still reeling. From Coldplay to Best Coast to Portugal. The Man (who had all of their equipment and tour van stolen off the premises :-( ), it was an event to remember I'm sure. The photos have finally been released so the rest of us who cannot stand crowds that large even if we had all of the money in the world, will be able to see what the hell really went down there.
These gray days have gotten me kind of down. I realize we have had like a total of three weeks of sunshine in the last few months. It's hard sometimes but then other times, it really makes me appreciate this American folk indie music I previously mentioned I loved.
I really do. And I always have. I have always been this way. Sad and happy simultaneously and I think this is the music that I flock to so readily, easily, just naturally like it was written for someone with feelings like mine.
This summer is the summer for Bon Iver's new and old album, Blind Pilot, Joe Purdy, Iron & Wine solo album and Iron & Wine with Calexico album, and Califone. I just feel cozy and warm listening to this and hope you feel this can help ease some of the cloud-filled sky blues.
Music really does change the feel of everything, even the weather, and my soul - even when I feel like things are really tough and I can't think straight. Then I let Bon, Joe, and Sam do the thinking for me.
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