City Arts Fest - Day 4 - Esben and the Witch & Foals @ Neumos

Day 4 of City Arts fest came with some serious decisions to make. Big Boi & Foals playing at LITERALLY the exact same time? Oye. I was very much set on seeing Foals until a few different voices of reason made a good point in saying "When are you ever going to see Big Boi again? It's not like Outkast tours, um, EVER" And although I'm not the biggest follower of Outkast, and thus Big Boi, it's definitely one of those things that you just have to see at some point. So the decision was made...I'll get there early and stand around waiting to see if they'll let me in since I only had the wristband and not the guest list wristband for that show. As I'm sure you've deduced by now (maybe it was the title of the blog) my attention span for waiting in lines - especially in the rain - got the better of me. I think I lasted a whole 10 minutes before deciding to get back in my car and drive up to Neumo's. Damn, if I was glad that I did.

The opening band, Esben and the Witch was definitely not something I'd heard of, or taken the time to even look up prior to the show. However, halfway through the first song I was texting a gang of folks about them and trying to find something, ANYTHING about them on Wiki. Not the easiest thing to do since it seems these guys are THAT new. I scoured the interwebs a bit yesterday and found out that this 3 piece band touring w/ the Foals just signed to Matador and released their first single for them, last week.

Esben & the Witch

Esben and the Witch

Foals promptly went on at 11 and went hit for hit between "Total Life Forever" and "Antidotes". It sounded amazing, their energy was on FIRE, the crowd was INTO it for sure. It was exactly what I was expecting and hoped for. 'Total Life Forever' is definitely on my top 5 albums for 2010 and I am so glad I decided to go see this show.

Foals

Foals

Foals

Foals



Getting ready to attack the drum



City Arts Fest - Day 2 - Cat Power @ 5th Ave Theater

This was my first event at the 5th Ave Theater and first time seeing Cat Power. It's taken me a while to get into the singer/songwriter thing so I really don't know much about her. The first time I had any kind of interest in her music was a tequila filled Cinco de Mayo at the Cha Cha when I first heard "Free" playing in the bar. Her voice is unmistakable and the show was definitely something I'll always remember. I'd heard about her stage fright but witnessing it firsthand was a little shocking. The near 2000 person crowd was as silent as you could possibly get for that size. Between each song there was at least a 3 minute pause with only a few whispers, or a random folks yelling "You can do it" in some attempt at comforting her. I couldn't help but wonder why on earth this chick even wanted to continue to be in the spotlight if she was THIS uncomfortable. Selfishly though, with a voice like hers, I am glad she does.

City Arts Festival - Day 1 - Macklemore, Brother Ali, & Blue Scholars



Mash Hall opening up the show




Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - killing it



Macklemore

dance party alterego

Brother Ali

Brother Ali

Blue Scholars

Blue Scholars

M.I.A. - Showbox (Market) 10.17.10

The XX - Crystalised (Dark Sky Remix) (FULL)

Dark Sky = definitely something to keep on the radar. I'm speechless.

Jamie XX - Far Nearer

Solo effort on it's way out from 1/3 of the XX, Jamie. Hitting us with a little calypso steel drum action, but still very much keeping the restrained progression that we know and love from the XX.

Dig it.

Jamie xx - "Far Nearer" by vinylandvodka

Blue Scholars - Lumiere

Amongst the dozens of XX remixes this one is far and away the most impressive. The XX is something I hold very near and dear to my heart and though I'm a pretty huge fan of most remixes, I've hated literally all of them...especially the Biggie vs XX mixtape. Weak, sloppy, and not even close to doing either Biggie (RIP) or the XX any justice. Leave it to Sabzi to be patient enough to use the right amount of the original sample in order pay a proper homage to the XX Intro. Geo's flows are never anything but exceptionally articulate, and this is no exception. Yet another reason to really get behind our hometown hero's.