A Few Zen - Music, Fusion, and Life

Here is the list of shows I went to this year. I really saw alot less than I usually do but they were all worth their 15-30$.

1) Earl Greyhound @ Schubas . I am still surprised they haven't gotten anywhere. They have a guitar player/singer that is a thin long haired Black Crowe type guy. They have a black female bass player/singer who dresses like Hendrix. They have a huge black drummer guy who also dresses like Hendrix. And they rock with the best sampling mix of all of classic rock. The best live rock experience I have seen that no one else has ever heard! I thought for sure they would be bigger than the White Stripes ASAP, but as of now, no dice. They must have terrible PR. I could make them more money. They are the real deal. 3 great young songwriters. The female bass player Kamara is from chi-town. I talked to her and the guitarist a bit. Cool. I'd love for them to move up to the Metro. I told them that. They cockily said they would. Cool.

2) TV on the Radio @ the Metro. One of the realest indie bands that got big right now. It took me like 2 months before I liked the first album I bought of their's (Cookie Mountain). But then it hit me like a pile of bricks. And live, they make their albums look like they are totally pop live because of how they re-write them. Their lead singer is probably the best male rock singer I have ever seen live. They all love it and it shows. Their iTunes live session shows it off.

3) Sufjan Stevens @ the Riviera. Well, about 20 musicians came out wearing butterfly wings. String section. Horn section. Drummer, bassist, guitarist, and keys. Sufjan plays either banjo, guitar, or piano. It was so orchestrated crazy that it felt like a religious experience. It's so peaceful. And he's really religious from what I hear. I looked around at some point because I realized all of the people there (from the whole age spectrum, mainly white) were just peaceful. And that alone made it "not rock-n-roll". Nobody was ready to fight. Just different. But as I have said before, Sufjan is the new "Simon & Garfunkel". No one has been writing this deep of folk music in a long time. And he does do electric.

4) Medeski, Martin, Wood, and Scofield @ Jazz Fest, Petrillo Bandshell . I love all of their albums. This group now has 2 albums, both of which are really good. "Out Louder" and " A Go Go". I took a class in jazz guitar with John Scofield teaching at one point. I had seen MMW 2 times by then. But this time, something was off. It just seemed more of a standard type of jazz. They are normally super progressive and funky. But it was Chicago's big time Jazz Fest. Something was up and they just played it safe. I was shocked but not totally disappointed. If a newbie heard them they would have known they were all good jazz players. But they wouldn't dance around like some dance-crazed hippy.

5) The Hives @ the Metro. The Hives. What can you say, the best Swedish punk/classic rock band ever! Self-proclaimed. And they rocked. You got your moneys worth in the show. They played like 25 of their songs in about an hour and were as "into it" as any theatrical rock band can. The guitar player kept blowing on his fingers during his playing as if to show his fingers are on fire and overheating. They are just funny as shit, and you have never seen anyone like this! Unless you have you should!

6) Ghostface Killah @ the Metro. As a long time Wu-Tang Clan fan it was nice to get offered free tickets to this show. Scion (the car brand) offered free tickets if you just signed up for their new hip hop streaming stations online. There are actually a lot of good indie music bands on their channels too. Anyways, Ghost hired a latin/funk/soul band ((The Rhythm Roots Allstars (now on tour with Ghost and Rakim)) to play his songs. Since most of his songs sample old school tunes (like say Al Green) it was really sweet to hear a live band play all that old school mixed with his hip hop. A lot of Ghost songs, plenty of Wu songs, and a tribute to ODB. He knew the Metro. Been there many times. Great show for nothing. There was b-boys breakin' in between acts too. Great show and for free!

That's it. I wish had seen more shows this year. I missed both Madlib and Prefuse 73 this weekend live. They both had great albums this year. I also regret not going to at least one Lollapallooza day. I usually make one of the days.

Posted by JJ at 7:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometimes it's just the truth. I like the message. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in life that we only upset ourselves. Beck is one of my top 10 musicians of NOW. And I've always loved this song. I never looked for it before. But when I saw how he did it live here, I had to post it even though it's a slow song. For me this a "guilty pleasure" song. It might kill a party vibe, but I could dig it if it came on. Nice middle eastern vibe.

Posted by JJ at 7:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This guy rocks. It took me a minute to figure out what he was doing.

Posted by JJ at 6:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As I entered Joe's on Weed St. in Chicago at around 9:15pm expecting a 9pm show, I was quickly disappointed until I finally saw Mike come on at midnight. I knew he would be worth the wait and he was, but barely. This event was very poorly thrown together. The bar is like a frat house environment, not bad for mikes' rock side but alot of his set went over their heads. As a DJ I knew he really needed to be in a hot club with a real dance floor going on. But I guess they can't handle the crowd who showed up. He rocked though, as I'm sure he does wherever he is. He played for about and hour and a half and he went through rock, hip hop, and electro-funk as the genius he is. I was surprised he was using Final Scratch (a program I also have) that uses a laptop, 2 turntables, and 2 specially designed time coded vinyl records (more like dubplates) to manipulate any mp3s on your computer as though you were actually using and scratching that band's actual album. It is probably the most revolutionary DJ device ever created (or for musicians too). Only my other favorite DJ is using it.....Amon Tobin. Mike did his trademark alien scratching sounds that could seeminly destroy a record in an amateur's hands. He also displayed his trademark beatjuggling and mixing abilities that I have yet to see anyone top. He mixes between 2 parts of the same record so fast that he creates his own new breaks from old music. Truly phenomenal show. Very upbeat. He played a very fast tempo for everything he went thru. I just wish he would have played at a club where everyone was dancing instead of head banging. Most of the show seemed like it was his own music made in a studio. But, from what I remember here are some of the other band's songs he mixed: 7 nation army (white stripes), crosstown traffic (jimi hendrix), BYOB (system of a down), some song off of dangermouse's grey album, this or that (black sheep), feel good inc. (gorillaz), organ donor (dj shadow), knuckle duster (white zombie), golddigger (kanye west), and smells like teen spirit (nirvana). Also in the mix were a few classic old school NYC hip hop songs/beats/breaks. I highly recommend everyone to see him IF they like watching DJ's scratch up records. Some DJ's don't move much. Mike breaks a sweat and never chills after that. Only Kid Koala has a better setup (he uses 3 turntables to beat juggle off live). It is obvious that some Beastie Boy saw a show just like the one here, and realized he needs to sign this guy up for his band ASAP. A true virtusoso in this modern hip hop flooded world.

5 out of 5 thumbs

Mixmaster Mike's Website

Posted by JJ at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

this guy rocked. armed with an old busted hat, and the classic jimmy page black and white danelectro, a slide, a fuzz box, and a harmonica he rocked. this is the first time i saw beck and i have been a fan since mellow gold. he has perfected his art and can play guitar (and turntable too). his band could pull down the "phat" beat and the bluesy-ness was down. he reminded me of the white stripes that i saw a few months ago in that he played a distorted slide guitar for much of the show. a classic gritty guitar at that! at some point the roadies brought out a classic little bistro table with some food, wine bottles, and misc trinkets on that the band stopped playing and came out to sit around and ate at. they ate while beck played a few songs with just him singing and playing guitar on. he actually played some great "sea change" songs at this point and they worked. as a dj i figured this album's songs would kill the party...but he pulled it off and they sounded beautiful. at around "clap hands" the people eating at the table started playing percussion on the various glasses, bowls, trays, and misc scrapers on the table. he suddenly had a full latin beat under his acoustic. truly phenomenal. when he played loser i couldn't believe how corny the song hasn't become! these are the songs, not in exact order..but what was remembered:
- black tambourine
- e-pro
- que honda guero
- girl
- hell yes
- scarecrow
- emergency exit
- clap hands
- deborah
- golden age
- loser
- devil's haircut
- the new pollution
- hotwax
- sissyneck

he was too cool and he had the musicianship it takes to go out by yourself, and play to the crowd with nobody backing u up, and he had us all hyped up. check out his next show u can. 5 out of 5 thumbs.

Beck's Website

Posted by JJ at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)