Oh Land at Pete's Candy Store

So, I wrote a whole post about this show I saw of a really good Danish singer called Oh Land at Pete's Candy Store with some friends last Monday night, and then I kept postponing posting it until I had the time to upload the photos, and lo and behold my computer crashed today, which totally sucked (goodbye browser tabs!) so I have to rewrite it. Ugh.

Basically, I thought that the lead singer--23 year old Nanna Øland Fabricius--and her two back up singers/bandmates had beautiful voices and really tight harmonies. Oh Land is billed as a cappella experimental electronica, which is a pretty accurate description. While I have to say that none of the songs felt completely finished and weren't tunes that would get stuck in my head for days and days, I loved the calm energy that she had and her voice was a pleasure to listen to. The set began really well, but I found myself getting a little distracted when she moved to songs that didn't use the backing track (with the exception of the one song that she did entirely a cappella, and then repeated it with instrumentals...that was fantastic). All in all, I felt there was some disjointedness in the look of the band, considering the fact that Nanna looked like a model with her simple, elegant updo and black dreess, while the two backup dancers were adorned with turqoise tights, frilly umbrellas (used once very effectively, when they opened and closed them in time with the electronic whooshing beat) and little hats shaped like house that lit up in different colors...it was all very cute, but in conjunction with Nanna's ensemble it seemed a little forced and unnecessary. The music alone would have made it a great show, it didn't need all those bells and whistles. My favorite song of there's is "Alive/Awake."

All in all, though, I really enjoyed myself.
P.S. Quick update on the music: We are getting really really really close to finishing a bunch of our songs and even doing some pseudo mastering ourselves. While this weekend seems like another wash for various reasons, we have made huge strides in the last week with finishing tunes and they are really coming together. I'm hoping we'll be ready to do shows in a couple of months...Can't believe how long it's been, but the most important thing is that we put out great music and not try and finish a song just for the sake of finishing it.

Mumford & Sons at Mercury Lounge

Not only is the music catchy, but the lead singer also has a beautiful voice and the four part harmonies are tight and performed with authentic feeling. I would describe it as a grittier folk music--like an edgier Bon Iver.
Marcus Mumford fronts the folk/bluegrass band (who I hear is also the drummer for Laura Marling, another London based folk musician) passes the 'patting your head and rubbing your tummy' test the next level with his impressive ability to do multiple things at once. It's hard to quiet down a crowd at Mercury, and especially to follow a band like Temper Trap, which has a completely different vibe, but their first a capella song of the set brought the crowd to a moving hush.
Had to give a shout out to them for an awesome job at Mercury Lounge, it was a wonderful way to precede my trip to SXSW. Definitely of the best shows I've seen so far this year.

[Kudos to my friend Rob for the tip!]

The Black Lips at Bowery Ballroom

Caught a Black Lips show at Bowery Ballroom last Monday, and what can I say. They were full of energy, and the drummer was hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing at how animated he was...definitely in his own world, but not in a bad way. The show was preceded by an impromptu floor arm wrestling match between audience members (did they know each other? I have no clue), and a huge mosh pit formed in front full of giddy, sweaty fans. While I wouldn't say that they are my all time favorite band of all time, they were definitely fun to watch and seemed quite relaxed onstage.

Countdown to SXSW: 4 days! Woohoo! Austin here we come! :)

"What's Natural" almost done

This weekend we were able to practically finishing mixing the track entitled "What's Natural" that we've been working on. I, for one, find it hard sometimes to just sit with one song and totally finish it from start to finish, but we've succeeded in doing that with this one. It is especially rewarding now that we have a better handle on mixing so that the song sounds decent in comparison to other songs that we listen to and love. It's also nice not to have to adjust the volume on my speakers every time I listen to a track of ours. Now I just need to redo the vocals on it and then we can tackle finishing some of the other dozens of tracks that we've started. The good thing is we are not at a loss for material; the unfortunate reality is that we need more time in the studio to work on tracks. Since right now we can only get in on weekends, there has been talk of getting up at 5am before John has to work. I don't know if that will actually happen, but that's the dream.

Working working, updating playlist, working, looking for work looking for apartment

It's been a while, but that isn't to say we haven't been working. Well, I'm still technically looking for a steady 'real' job (thank you recession), but we have been working on new and old songs since I last posted. Although, I did have to take a breather last weekend to escape to Boston and clear my head of February blues (and snowboard before I forget how to actually do that). While I have been tooling away at home on vocals and weird instrumental bits on all our songs, John has been educating himself on the intricate art of mixing.
At this point we have a bunch of songs, but we are taking our time to make sure that the sounds that we choose for instrumentals and the songs that we consider 'finished' are exactly as amazing as we envisioned them to be, rather than just cranking them out to get the EP done with. Now, when we go into the studio we pick out a number from a hat and work on whatever song I have assigned that number. It seems to be working pretty well, and helps with the invariable "What song should we work on?" hesitation when we get into the studio on the weekend.

Anyways, the playlist was due for an update because I have become obsessed with a lot of songs since I last updated it so hopefully you will enjoy the new additions.

Happy New Year!

Despite the fact that we haven't been able to put in the time at the studio that we would have liked to because of the holidays, this weekend was surprisingly productive and successful. Friday night was a wash out, since a meeting and a subsequent bar hopping tour through lower Manhattan meant there was no way we would be heading out to Brooklyn on the L train to work in the space. We managed to finish arranging a song called "Never See," which we are both really excited about...especially considering the fact that last week we were both about to implode in frustration over how annoying our main synth line had become and our inability to find a good replacement for one of the fundamental parts of the song. There is nothing like the feeling of laying a bit down that just fits perfectly and makes the song come together...and then having it spawn more ideas of what you could add/take away.
Here's to a productive, joyful and amazing 2009. I have a feeling it will be a crazy one :)

a trainwreck of an mp3 for toi

I believe that line was in the last email I just sent John with my latest attempts at a song that I've been hacking away at while he's been in Virginia for the holidays catching big fish that don't quite warrant a citation, but are impressive nonetheless.

Yes, I'm aware that I dropped off the blogosphere for like a month. We were, in fact, getting a lot done, and I just got distracted and wasn't sure there was anything fantastic to update people on. Well, there is this song we are almost done arranging, tentatively titled "Never See." After a few runs under the mill by us, it seems to have taken its shape and we should be putting the finishing touches on it tomorrow. We are slowly but steadily getting a fair number of songs under our belt, and figuring out the next steps we need to take and walls we need to hit our heads against in frustration. Should be fun. I'm excited.

Oh, and we caught an awesome Friendly Fires show at The Annex some weeks ago. They sounded great and the place was packed. Have I mentioned how much I hate going to shows in the wintertime and dealing with people's (and my own) coats in a standing room only area? Yea, not so great. The only good thing is it is a protective barrier against overly excited fans and their wayward elbows.