ADEMLP - December 2011

Oh jeez, this one's really late. Sorry, folks.

So this month, I liked almost all of the songs she played. I loved the second song she played, which was by The Twilight Singers. She actually played a surprising amount of local music, so that was kind of cool.

The two songs out of the 14 she played that I didn't particularly like were by Mike Vial and Roots Manuva. Mike Vial was too country for me, and started to get a little repetitive. Roots Manuva was much too techno for me.

The rest of the songs were all quite good, though. And Dessa was a really nice change of pace. It was cool to hear a good female R&B artist, especially at a Listening Party.

On the other hand, the live band wasn't too exciting. American Mars sounded like pretty standard pop rock with a bit of a folk lean. They weren't bad by any means, they're just too folk for my liking. I also don't think there was that much that really stood out about them. And their live show wasn't exactly engaging, either.

American Mars playing at the Listening Party

List of bands that Ann Delisi played this month:

• Mayaeni
• Twilight Singers
• Band of Skulls
• Mike Vial
• Roots Manuva
• Black Box Revelation
• Twin Shadow
• American Mars
• Joss Stone
• Daniel (with a name like this, I can't find you a website. Sorry!)
• Dessa
• Little Hurricane
• Mitch Ryder
• Elizaveta

Photos courtesy of Robby Amin

ADEMLP - November 2011

I didn't feel strongly about most of the songs that Ann Delisi played at this month's listening party. Some of the better ones were Gary Clark Jr, who reminded me of the Black Keys, and Kate Monahan, a local singer-songwriter who reminded me a bit of Natalie Merchant. Sheila Chandra also had a really neat sound. It reminded me of Arabic music with a rock lean.

We got a lot of music news updates, though. It turns out that The Cranberries are back together. Their new stuff sounds...not as good as their old stuff, but they're still very recognizable. One of main comments was, "If they're going to come back, they should come back with a splash," which they very much didn't.

The Black Keys have a new album, which is less recognizable. She said we should have known who that was immediately, but I had no clue. It was a lot less artsy than most of The Black Keys I've heard. In fact, I thought Gary Clark Jr's song sounded a lot more like the Black Keys than their own did.

Supposedly, when The Rolling Stones went back to the studio to record new songs (or rather, finish songs they started) for bonus tracks on their recent re-releases, Mick Jagger sounded exactly like he did when they recorded the first parts back in 1972.

Scarlett Johansson teamed up with Dean Martin for a Christmas album that sounds pretty generic. Lou Reed and Metallica teamed up for an album, which basically defines "hard rock." That's not to say it's good; it's got nothing special. It's just exactly what I would call "hard rock."

The Ragbirds made up for what the song samples lacked. The Ann Arbor band's set was amazing. Erin Zindle, their lead singer, has a great voice, and her guitarist, T.J. Zindle, provided backup vocals that complemented hers very well. The band has a very eclectic set of instruments. Erin plays the banjo and the violin and the mandolin. They've also got a few hand drums, among other percussion instruments, and an electric guitar. And all of the talented musicians in the band make their instruments all fit together well!

They also have a very varied sound. The first song they played was almost Turkish, the second was pretty much folk rock, and then they followed that up with a song that reminded me of Murder by Death. I can't really give them a genre, but if I had to, I'd call them world, folk, rock fusion.

The Ragbirds playing at the Listening Party

Not only are the Ragbirds good at playing music, they're good at performing. They had the perfect amount of energy for the stage they were on, but I think even if they were in a bigger venue, they'd have been able to fill it. Erin was also really funny and kept everyone interested.

The end of the set was pretty cool, and a little unexpected. A lot of the crowd ended up getting up and dancing around. After they finished their set, they walked off, and got called out for an encore. I couldn't tell if the Ragbirds expected it or not because they seemed to have a song pretty ready for it, but I definitely didn't expect an encore at a listening party.

The Ragbirds were so great that everyone got up to dance!

Speaking of the Ragbirds, they're doing a holiday show at The Ark in Ann Arbor on Saturday, December 10. I expect it to be similar to the Ten out of Tenn tour. It should be a lot of fun!

List of bands that Ann Delisi played last night:

• Jason Spooner
• Ben Sharkey
• Oberhofer
• The Cranberries
• Caveman
• My Brightest Diamond
• The Black Keys
• Yuck
• Gary Clark Jr
• The Rolling Stones
• The Belle Brigade
• OttO Vector
• The Happenings
• Dean Martin with Scarlett Johansson
• Lou Reed with Metallica
• Kate Monaghan
• Canyons (myspace)
• Sheila Chandra

Photos courtesy of Robby Amin

Lupe Fiasco at EMU

The openers were pretty funny and a little ridiculous. We walked in at the tail end of this guy's setlist. I think the first couple lines I heard were something like, "I think I need a Xanax, and you should go and grab a Tampax." At the end of his set he said "Peace, EMU," and as he was walking off added, seemingly as an afterthought, "My name's Josh." My assessment? His songs seem to be about nothing and his live show wasn't very engaging.

The next act was Chip tha Ripper, who was introduced by an emcee that really just walked around stage while music was playing. It kinda felt like he was stalling because Chip wasn't ready or something. When he finally came on, Chip made a big deal about not being signed. He also had kind of ridiculous lyrics (something like "Watch your head as you're getting in spaceship," which I guess was about hitting your head as you get into a car in his words). Nothing in particular stood out about his live show, except handing out tons of t-shirts; I probably wouldn't go see him again.

Lupe Fiasco made up for the shortcomings of his openers. The lights were a great addition, including the large, lighted "A." I wish the pictures had come out, but unfortunately, they were all blurry. His entire set was full of energy...even the violinist. I didn't even realize that he wasn't feeling well until he told us. In fact, for a couple songs before his closer, he actually was sitting or lying down on the raised stage. It worked out, though, because those songs were on the slow side, anyway. Right before his closer, he went around and introduced his live band to music, and it kind of felt like we were in a jazz bar. It was pretty cool. And it was a great lead in to "Daydreamin'," but right before the first verse, the band stopped. And he decided to close out with "The Show Goes On," instead. I kind of wish he had played "Daydreamin'," but he made "The Show Goes On" fun, so I didn't mind.

Some of his songs were great to hear live. For instance, I think I liked "Hip-Hop Saved My Life" better live than on disc. But there were other songs that I preferred on disc. "Kick, Push" particularly sounded off. I want to blame the sound levels because I feel like at times, the instruments overpowered the vocals. It was cool to see him acting out the kicking, pushing, and coasting, though.

One other thing that I noticed about rap shows in general is that the live band doesn't get as much focus as at a rock show. It makes sense because they're really just there as support, they don't play a huge part in the writing of the music, and I would assume they change often between tours, if not within tours.

Overall, I quite enjoyed my first rap concert.

ADEMLP - October 2011

I remembered a notebook this time! Accordingly, I have added a list of all the bands that were played tonight below. I think in general, I liked more of the songs that were played last month, but there were some very good artists today, specifically Brae and Fur. Illymack was also pretty good. The song that was played had a bit of a country feel to it, which I appreciated. I also liked the jazz feel to Nick Waterhouse. He was compared to "ADELE after going to the dentist" by one of the attendees, and while I'm not sure I can agree with the dentist part, he does remind me of ADELE. I also quite liked Horse Feathers. They had something of a folk feel. It was also what was described as "pretty." I would describe it as having a very light-hearted violin part.

Brae closed out the show this month. He's very good. He had great stage presence and he's a very talented percussionist. Seeing the drummer sing was also very refreshing. I think it contributed to me preferring his live music over his album because it brought some focus to the percussion, and my favorite part of Brae's songs are the drums; he writes great beats. They played a few songs from a forthcoming album, and they made me very excited for it.

Brae performing at the Listening Party

List of bands that Ann Delisi played tonight:

• Nick Waterhouse
• AUSTRA
• Horse Feathers
• Tai Chi Swayze
• illymack
• MGMT
• Fur
• How to Dress Well
• Doop and the Inside Outlaws
• Brae
• Florence + the Machine
• Mike Vial
• Supreme Beings of Leisure
• Mike Doughty
• Mayer Hawthorne
• Kate Bush

Photos courtesy of Robby Amin

Beirut!

Okay, what the hell, Detroit? I get that you didn't come to see Laeitia Sadier, and I get that she wasn't very good, but don't talk over her entire set. She even asked the audience to quiet down a bit (which...really? "Please pay attention to me"?), and everyone kept talking. Come on, now, guys, show a little respect. Next time, if you don't want to listen to the opener, then don't come for the opener.

Although in the attendees' defense, she really wasn't great. She had no stage presence, the music wasn't exciting, the sound system didn't sound great, and she apparently didn't even look at anyone, at least in the front row. It was just a generally underwhelming performance. I feel like she would have fit better in a coffee shop or a restaurant.

On the other hand, the venue was pretty nice. Despite the poor sound at the beginning, which I would attribute to mis-calibrated levels, the sound system sounded great for the rest of the night, and the decor and general environment at Royal Oak Music Theatre was really cool.

I didn't actually know a whole lot about Beirut going into this concert. All I really knew was what I had heard on their myspace, which didn't really get me too excited. But they really put on an amazing live show! All of them are very talented multi-instrumentalists. I liked the rotating brass section. They managed to get through a French horn, two trumpets, a trombone, and a tuba over the course of their setlist. I think my favorite, though, was probably the accordion.

They also did a great job with the lighting. But I might just be a sucker for synchronized music and lights. I can't say that the show was as good as Muse or Mutemath, but it is definitely worth going to a Beirut show if you get the chance.

Ann Delisi's Essential Music Listening Parties Are Great

I went to my first live show in over a year today...and I needed it. I would hesitate to call it a concert, though. It was a very neat idea. The person running it, Ann Delisi hosts a radio show on the local NPR station, and she hosted listening parties once a month all summer at the Majestic Cafe in Detroit. I wish I had known about these earlier this summer, because I would have gone to more of them, but unfortunately, today's seems to have been the last of this year, seeing as it's the last date listed on the ADEMLP webpage.

The way it worked was Ann would play a clip of a song, and then ask for feedback on it before telling us who the artist was or what the song was. Everyone got to fill out a survey telling her whether or not she should play it on the next show. This repeated for 20 songs, and then the local featured band played a set to end the night. I didn't recognize a lot of the artists that she played, and I neglected to write any of them down (mostly because I didn't have a pen or an extra piece of paper). The only ones I remember are Feist, Beirut, and Amy Winehouse. I do remember liking almost all of what she played. There were, of the 19 she played today, two that I didn't like, and two that I liked, but that I wouldn't want played on her show. One of them would fit much better on a college radio station than on NPR. One of the songs, I really liked everything about the song except the singer's voice. It made me sad because I wanted to like it, but the voice was a deal-breaker.

After that, the local band, The Strange, played. They had a pretty varied set. Some of it was learning towards psychedelic rock, but other songs were a lot more ... "concert-friendly" for lack of a better term. I quite enjoyed all of their music, and would have bought a CD had they been selling them, and, I should mention, had I had cash. The lead singer had kind of an awkward stage presence, though. He looked fine when he was singing, and he sounded great, but during solos and the like, he looked like he didn't know what to do with himself, and he just looked very uncomfortable. That's the only thing I'd say they need to work on. Musically, they were very talented.

As an aside, the Majestic Cafe makes a good venue for smaller bands. It's, fittingly, very good as a cafe setup, but I don't know that I would want to see a show at the Cafe if the audience was big enough that they would have to move the tables.

New one!

Compliments of Meelap (again) : The Sixty-One is an online listening website. Like earbits (see below), it's all indie, but it's not really an online radio site, so it takes a bit of playing around with to understand.

PS. If anyone joins, use rageboy04 as your referring user :)

Websites and facebook apps that are teh awesome!

I was all excited I was gonna be seeing concerts again starting on Friday, but it looks like I'm putting that off for about another month. In the meantime!

• Earbits is awesome. They also have a Facebook page and a Facebook app to let you share songs.
• Bandsintown might be the best Facebook app ever. It's basically a concert aggregator. I wish it had a slightly better UI (cloud-sadness) but it's still usable :)

Moved to Detroit

I'm no longer living in the Seattle area, so future concerts will be (for now) in the Detroit metro area (including Ann Arbor). Shows coming up include: Top of the Park concerts in Ann Arbor, Owl City, with guests including Mat Kearney, at The Fillmore Detroit on June 29, and Interpol at The Fillmore Detroit on July 25.

Upcoming shows that I can't attend even though I would like to include Arctic Monkeys on May 26 and Panic! at the Disco on June 4, both at The Fillmore Detroit, Sam Roberts Band on June 8 at Saint Andrew's Hall, The Tragically Hip at Ceasars Windsor on July 2, and actually a ton more, most of which are out of my price range, unfortunately. Check out Ann Arbor's 107one's concerts page for a good list including links to the artist's page, the artist's myspace, the venue, and tickets.