The Frog Pond (or something)

[MrFrogger]

Hey, I decided there's no reason not to make one of these, so here you go. Hopefully someone actually reads these.

Currently sinking my teeth into

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Art Angels by Grimes

But I can't really say much about it yet. This album really does require a lot of dissection. She throws a lot of different shit at you all at once. I will say that I think I like it, though i'm disappointed on the rearrangement of REALiTi.

[MrFrogger]

Inspired by Keith, I also decided to try to log the shows I'm attending. So I will do so here.

1/23 - Alex G, Teen Suicide, Eskimeaux at Palisades

1/29 - Owen Pallet at Music Hall Of Williamsburg

2/10 - Parquet Courts, Laced at Palisades

2/17 - A Place To Bury Strangers, Grooms at Music Hall Of Willismsburg

2/25 - Pile, Solids at Palisades

2/28 - Screaming Females, Priests, Tenement, Vacation at Knitting Factory

3/3 - Canibal Ox, GZA at Webster Hall (Studio)

3/6 - Screaming Females, Downtown Boys, Aye Nako at Silent Barn

3/28 - Deerhoof, Perfect Pussy, Zula at Webster Hall (Marlin Room)

4/4 - Clark, Nosaj Thing, Rival Consoles at Music Hall Of Williamsburg

4/5 Diarrhea Planet, Left & Right at Babys All Right

4/9 - Waxahatchee, Girlpool, The Goodbye Party at Music Hall Of Williamsburg

4/15 - Protomartyr, Grooms, The Gotobeds at The Wick

4/18 - Ava Luna, Krill, LVL Up at Silent Barn

4/22 - Cloud Nothings, Amanda X at Music Hall Of Williamsburg

4/25 - Speedy Ortiz, Krill, Mitski at Bowery Ballroom

4/30 - The Fat White Family at Music Hall Of Williamsburg

5/2 - Twin Peaks, White Reaper at Music Hall Of Williamsburg

5/13 - Pianos Become The Teeth, Loma Prieta at St. Vitus

8/22-8/23 FYF Fest D'Angelo and The Vanguard, Battles, Belle and Sebastian, Kanye West, Dinosaur Jr, METZ, Hop Along, Alvvays, Spiritualized, Run The Jewels, Purity Ring, etc.

9/11 - Thee Oh Sees, Zs at Warsaw

9/16 - Glen Hansard at Housing Works

9/21 - Ride, DIIV at Irving Plaza

10/2 - Ought, LVL Up at Secret Project Robot

10/8 - Viet Cong, Television, Lower Dens at House of Vans

10/14 - No Devotion, Creepoid, Wax Idols, Foxes in Fiction at Babys All Right

10/16 - Angel Deradoorian, The Album Leaf at Cake Shop

10/17 - Destruction Unit, Perfect Pussy, Downtown Boys, Porches, LVL Up, Protomartyr, Potty Mouth, Pity Sex, Sheer Mag at a car wash

10/23 - Blur, Courtney Barnett at Madison Square Garden

11/2 - Kendrick Lamar and The Wesley Theory, Jay Rock at Terminal 5

11/5 - Deafheaven, Envy at Webster Hall

And Upcoming..

11/8 - DIIV, No Joy, Sunflower Bean at Webster Hall

11/15 - Fuzz, The Men at Bowery Ballroom

12/3 - The World Is A Beautiful Place..., Foxing, TTNG at Music Hall of Williamsburg

12/7 - Joanna Newsom at Kings Theater

12/10 - The Get Up Kids, Into It. Over It. at Irving Plaza

12/11 - Parquet Courts, Pill at Warsaw

12/12 - Speedy Ortiz, Aye Nako at Palisades

12/13 - Sleater-Kinney at Terminal 5

12/17 - Beach Slang, Field Mouse at Knitting Factory

[MrFrogger]

Silver and I went to this last night

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First set of the night was Hop Along, who got stuck in the first slot, well before any other bands, so they only ended up filling half the room. But that doesn't phase them, as their an absolutely blistering live band, and they gave it their all last night. Perfect way to start the night. Next was Waxahatachee, who delivered a good set, and ended it with a cover featuring Matt Machaughn from Superchunk. We then attempted to go to the basement, where Frankie Cosmos where playing, but so did the entire Waxahatchee crowd (Felice Brothers were playing next on that stage, and apparently nobody cared). Because of this, we only ended up catching the tail end of Frankie Cosmos's set, from the far back of the room. What we saw was nice, they had some backup dancers on stage doing choreography. It was fun. We then had some time to kill before Kurt Vile, so we decided to see the beginning of Lee Ranaldo's acoustic set. It was pleasant, but nothing more than you'd expect from a set like that.

We arrived at Kurt Vile's scheduled start time, but he didn't start playing until 15 minutes after that. He didn't appear in very good form, and struggled with the guitar part to his opening song. At this point we were faced with the decision of whether to stay for the remainder of his set, or go downstairs and see Titus Androticus. Kurt Vile was starting to put us to sleep, so we left and went downstairs. Once we got there, Patrick Stickles walks out and explains that the band couldn't make it, so he's going to play a solo set instead. Another disappointment. We were still itching to see an exciting set, so we went to the 3rd stage where Beach Fossils were about to play. Best decision of the night. Beach Fossil's music works much better live then on record, which really became apparent this night. Both of us were very happy with our decision to ditch Patrick and catch this set.

We then went back downstairs to see my most anticipated set of the night, the reunited Rainer Maria. They played brilliantly; that set alone made this ticket worth it's cost. The band dynamic is still in top form, and their set felt like it passed by in a matter of minutes. Sadly when they closed with "Tinfoil" they brought out Meridith Graves to sing with them, which was a terrible choice. She was so completely out of tune, as she shrieked throughout the whole song, and really destroyed the tight dynamic that the other 2 vocalists had. Poor ending to the set. After them were Screaming Females who delivered a spectacular dynamic set, just like they always do. This was Silver's first time seeing them, and they left him impressed.

We then headed upstairs to catch the final set of the night and one we have been looking forward to: Parquet Courts. But when we got there Woods were still playing their set, which was a nice surprise. They brought out Andrew Savage from Parquet Courts to cover Neil Young's Powder Finger, before bringing out Kurt Vile to perform an over-the-top cover of Knockin On Heaven's Door. It was a fun set to catch the end of. Finally, Parquet Courts came out, Lee Ranaldo in tow, to play a set where they basically played as Lee Ranaldo's backing back. A lot of people in the crowd seemed a bit disappointing at this, as it was advertised as a Parquet Courts set, but it was really a gem of a set to catch (Sivler and I are seeing Parquet Courts next week, so it's not too bad). They performed Mote, which then proceeded to end in a blistering noise jam before they kicked off into Eric's Trip. The 2 acts meshed so well, it's probably the next best thing to actually seeing Sonic Youth (Made funnier by the fact that Parquet Courts's Austin Brown is a Thurston Moore look-alike, pictured below). All in all it was a good night for music.

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