Showing posts with label Explosions In The Sky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Explosions In The Sky. Show all posts

Saturday, June 2, 2012

The Hunting Grounds

This past Memorial Day weekend was the 11th annual Sasquatch! Music Festival. It's hard to put into words the experience of Sasquatch! for those who have not gone before. The Gorge Amphitheater is the best outdoor venue anywhere, it's every adjective you can use all at once. There are thousands and thousands of people all looking out for each other. The party doesn't stop unless you want to go to sleep. And of course the music is always top notch. So let me go over some highlights for you all.
Friday was sitting in line to get into the venue, then Starfucker was killing it at the huge Banana Shack now equipped with lasers and lights. After Starfucker we went to the Sasquatch stage to see some Girl Talk to kill some time before getting wrecked at Explosions In The Sky. Explosions was one of my favorite acts all weekend, people were throwing glow sticks for them and just generally rocking out.























Starfucker


























Explosions In The Sky

























Saturday we caught Reptar, who put on a great show followed by Starfucker again since I Break Horses couldn't make it. Alabama Shakes had a fantastic show as well. Purity Ring and Dum Dum Girls were my favorite shows on Saturday though Kurt Vile had a great show too. We also caught The Helio Sequence (really good live) and Tune-Yards before heading over to see the headliners, The Shins and Jack White.





















Above: Reptar Below: Sol on the new "Maine" Stage





























Dum Dum Girls

































Helio Sequence


























Purity Ring






















Sunday came and we went in early to catch Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. who put on a great show playing all their good songs and a couple of new ones. After DEJrJr we saw Hospitality who were a new act for me, they played really well and have a cute rock 'n' roll sound. Then it was on to folk quintuple Trampled By Turtles and Here We Go Magic. Trampled By Turtles had a great set while Here We Go Magic had a much weirder sound than I thought they would. We caught the end of Blind Pilot which was awesome followed by The War On Drugs who were amazing! Then after a brief refueling at the campsite we proceeded back to the music for the night with Wild Flag, Star Slinger, The Head & Heart, The Walkmen, Beirut, Little Dragon, and Bon Iver. Little Dragon was really strange but the rest of the shows were absolutely beautiful.























(Above)Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (Below) Hospitality






















Trampled By Turtles (Below)
























Wild Flag




























(Above)The Walkmen (Below) Beirut



























Monday was finally upon us before we knew it. Feeling run down before the music began made me feel old so I decided to try and stay cool and take it easy. But it's hard to take it easy when Gary Clark Jr., Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and Joy Formidable rock so hard that the lead singer for Joy Formidable kicks a monitor off the stage. Though I had been standing in the shade all day I still felt really sunburned, but I trooped on catching Feist, Shabazz Palaces, and The Cave Singers. All of them had a fantastic show. We left during the end of Cave Singers to go catch Siversun Pickups, Tenacious D, and Beck. Though Mogwai couldn't make it we did end up catching a little bit of Nero on the way out. Tenacious D was probably my favorite show the entire weekend, though all performances have their own unique aspect. The D put on a rock opera, playing out their songs in a theatrical matter. At one point Sasquatch came out, killed the guitar player, picked up the guitar then proceeded to shred, making everyone in the audience go crazy. "Um... did Sasquatch just kill our guitar player?" asks Kyle Gas, then the guitar player gets possessed by Satan and challenges Jack and Kyle to a guitar duel. Quite an amazing performance from them. And oh yeah, they had a giant Phoulix a.k.a Penix on stage as well. After seeing that show rock is not dead.

















(Above)Joy Formidable (Below) The Cave Singers






















Tenacious D





Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Top 50 Albums of the Year Part 5 of 5: The Top 15 Albums of All Year

Welcome to the final installment and last post of the year. This year has been a treat, there has been so many great albums, it was hard to choose what was the best of the best. Even though I have listened to a lot of albums this year, I know I have missed out on some good stuff. So if you think that there should be a record on any of these lists then please leave a courteous comment on my posts. In the end it's really not the number that counts, it's how the music makes you feel, and that's how I base this list off of. So as I sign off for the rest of the year I would like thank everyone who reads this and I hope that you are sharing all this great music that I am sharing with you. Happy Holidays to you all and I hope to see you all next year.

15. Cults - Cults

Cults - You Know What I Mean by cultscultscults

14. Sleep ∞ Over - Forever

Casual Diamond by Sleep ∞ Over

13. Neon Indian - Era Extrana

Hex Girlfriend by MGMTNeonIndian

12. Explosions In The Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

Trembling Hands by Explosions in the Sky

11. Gauntlet Hair - Gauntlet Hair

Gauntlet Hair "Keep Time" by DOJAGSC

10. White Denim - D

White Denim - Bess St by ProspectPark

9. Panda Bear - Tomboy

Panda Bear: Slow Motion by -gaga

8. Starfawn - Starfawn EP

12,000 B.C. by Starfawn

7. Real Estate - Days

Real Estate - Municipality by DominoRecordCo

6. Delicate Steve - Wondervisions

Delicate Steve- Don't Get Stuck (Proud Elephants) by The FADER

5. Starfucker - Reptilians

Starfucker - "Millions" by terrorbird

4. Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

Shabazz Palaces - An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum by subpop

3. Pure X - Pleasure

Dry Ice by PURE X

2. Peaking Lights - 936

Hey Sparrow by Peaking Lights

1. Washed Out - Within and Without

Washed out - You and I by iroel

So there you have it. It is ok if you disagree, let me know what your favorites are in the comments box.
Honorable mention to the incredibly talented Purity Ring for their 7" release this year.
Killing Sasquatch will be back next year to bring you even more music so stay tuned. Thanks again.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Top 50 Albums of the Year Part 4 of 5: Rock 'n' Roll

The spirit of rock 'n' roll has always been infused in humans since the beginning of time. Some have said that rock is dead, and though I have agreed to some degree in the years past I believe there has been a strong showing in the scene this past year. Though the genre of rock 'n' roll has faded from the limelight, it has been surging in the underground and taking on new forms. You just have to look in the right places, and you have found one of them here.

The Black Keys - El Camino

The Black Keys - Little Black Submarines by emanuel.amorim

Dum Dum Girls - Only In Dreams

Dum Dum Girls - Coming Down by subpop

Explosions In The Sky - Take Care, Take Care, Take Care

Explosions In The Sky - Last Known Surroundings by may_nothing

Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost

Girls - Honey Bunny by artsandcraftsmx

Hypatia Lake - Ouroboros

Suicide will not save you from this darkness that comes for us by hypatialake

Jeff The Brotherhood - We Are The Champions

JEFF The Brotherhood - 'Diamond Way' by SpunkRecords

Male Bonding - Endless Now

Male Bonding - Bones by subpop

North Highlands - Wild One

North Highlands - Steady Steady by popgunbooking

Pure X - Pleasure

Twisted Mirror by PURE X

Real Estate - Days

Real Estate - Green Aisles by DominoRecordCo

Shimmering Stars - Violent Hearts

Shimmering Stars "I'm Gonna Try" by PureHoney + TheHoneyComb

Viva Voce - The Future Will Destroy You

Analog Woodland Song by Viva Voce

Waters - Out In the Light

For The One by cityslang

The War On Drugs - Slave Ambient

The War On Drugs - Come To The City by Emo's Austin

We Were Promised Jetpacks - In The Pit Of The Stomach

We Were Promised Jetpacks - Picture of Health by grand royal

White Denim - D

Drug by WhiteDenim

Yuck - Yuck

Get Away by Yuck