Archive for the 'Musika' Category

All things must end…

Published
by
derek
on November 11, 2006
in Musika
. 0 Comments

I’ve been expecting to hear this for a while, but it’s still a bummer to find out that The Reputation have officially broken up. In Elizabeth’s words:

As I’m guessing many of you have already figured out, the band is over.

Sean quit. Rest of us just gave up, I guess. I don’t currently have plans to do any more music or play any more shows. Breaks my fucking heart.

All I can say is thanks for the music, and I hope it’s not the last bit of music that comes from everyone in the group.

Wonder if any of the new tracks they were working on will ever see the light of day…

The Reputation et al @ the Courtyard Cafe, Illini Union

Published
by
derek
on August 28, 2006
in Musika
. 0 Comments

Rachel came down to visit this past weekend and we caught the show at the Courtyard Cafe Saturday night. I was really wanting to catch Elizabeth Elmore again with the rest of her band, The Reputation, and had heard they were to go on third which in theory would be around 10:30. Not wanting to miss them, I figured we should get there by 10 just to be sure, and probably got there a fair bit before that since we caught the tail end of the first act, Judah Johnson. Their stuff was ok, but they were a little heavy on the electronica for my taste, and their stage presence was pretty static (i.e., a whole lot of standing around without much movement since most of them were tied to twiddling electronic dials and such).

They were followed up by The Like Young, which I’d actually heard of before (since they’ve got ties to CU). First time I’ve seen them live though. The band is composed of Joe and Amanda Ziemba, who’ve been playing in bands together since ‘97 and got hitched in ‘02. They’d played in Wolfie, Busytoby, and now The Like Young. I have to say, they put on a pretty good show. Very lively while they’re playing even if their stage banter is a little odd. Although I suppose that’s part of the appeal of indie. Not quite as refined and manufactured as the mainstream. They’ve got a fun sound though. Lots of short, fast-paced stuff. Turns out as I went in search of their website, I ran across an announcement on their website dated yesterday, 8.27.06:

The release of Last Secrets culminated 15 years of songwriting, recording, touring, and releasing records. With our most fulfilling album behind us, Amanda and I are very happy to announce the band’s retirement.

There’s more to their news post. But that’s gets to the heart of the matter. Looks like the upcoming tour will be their last, so I suppose it was fairly fortuitous that we caught their last CU show. Joe briefly reminisced about playing on that very stage back when he was an undergrad on amateur night. Seems like a fitting close to their musical careers. I wish them well in their future endeavors.

And what can I say about The Reputation. Great show. The previous acts were running kinda late (technically, I think the staff were trying to give the Like Young the hook since they’d taken so long to sound check, but they said screw it and played a couple more), so they didn’t go on till 11:15 or so. Setlist from the show:

  1. Pocket
  2. Either Coast
  3. Disco
  4. Let This Rest
  5. She Turned Your Head…
  6. Face It
  7. The Stars of Amateur Hour
  8. The Truth
  9. Some Senseless Day
  10. New Rock
  11. Bottle Rocket Battles
  12. Misery By Design

Great set. Played a few of the new songs they’ve been working on, and a number of my total favorites. Dropped by the merch booth at the end of the show to pick up a T and their self-titled debut CD from Elizabeth. Technically I’d already bought both albums long ago as mp3s from emusic, but I like the band and want to support them so I like to buy stuff from them directly when I catch them live. From what I understand, they get the largest cut of anything they sell directly (as opposed to through a record store, amazon, etc). Really hope I get the chance to catch them again in the future.

The night wrapped up with The M’s. Since the Rep spoke highly of them and made sure to keep their set as tight as possible to make sure they didn’t cut into The M’s set any more than necessary, I figured we’d stick around and check them out as well. Pretty good stuff. Might have to go check out their stuff on emusic. I’m having trouble pinning down exactly how to describe them. Very laid back group. Aspects remind me a bit of the Dead or Sgt. Peppers era Beatles. Not sure. Good stuff though. And their drummer was pretty entertaining to watch. Had quite the individual flair. Very quirky group overall.
Unfortunately, it turns out they close the Union at 1 and so we were fairly promptly getting the boot after the M’s wrapped up their set. Sorta wished I had a little longer to chat up the Rep, and kicking myself that I didn’t do so before their set (or after during the M’s set I guess). But what can you do. Great night overall.

Elizabeth Elmore Solo @ the Courtyard Cafe, Illini Union

Published
by
derek
on August 26, 2006
in Musika
. 0 Comments

I’ve been looking forward to it for a few weeks since I read about it, and managed to catch Elizabeth Elmore playing solo at the Courtyard Cafe in the Union. Free show no less. There were pretty clearly only a handful of people that were explicitly there to attend the show and an assortment of others that were there just eating their lunch or studying or what-not. Good show though. Just her and her electric (Gibson SG I believe). Played a range of things from the old Sarge days to the current Reputation stuff, including at least one track she’d never played live before. Helped carry her equipment out afterwards and met one of the other attendees who turned out to be the moderator for the Rep mailing list. Cool stuff, and I’m looking forward to catching her with full band again tonight (at the Union again, and also free).  Sounds like this is a show not to miss…

1. The Stars of Amateur Hour
2. Clearer
3. Bone Tired — “This is the first time I’ve ever tried to play this song live.”
4. Dear Josie, Love Robyn
5. Alaskan [request]
6. The First Morning
7. Beguiling
8. March [request]
9. The End of July (All My Plans Changed…)

Damn Dolphins!… or hanging out with Rachel and Tammy

Published
by
derek
on April 24, 2006
in Musika and Rants
. 5 Comments

Rachel and her roommate Tammy (who’s a hoot btw) came down Friday night to catch the show at the Canopy Club featuring The Living Blue, Tractor Kings, Dark Country, and The Dolphin. We showed up some time during the Dolphin’s set and all I have to say is weird. I couldn’t really tell whether they were playing something or just getting setup and making random noises on-stage. We elected to wait out at the bar until after their set was over.

Thought Dark Country put on a pretty good show, but I would’ve liked to hear a bit more (they were only able to play a handful of songs). Hopefully I’ll get to hear more from them in the future… perhaps an EP?

I’m not quite sure what I think of the Tractor Kings. I will definitely say I was impressed to see one of them playing a 12 string acoustic guitar as a part of their act. I might have to check out more of their stuff to see what I think. Seemed like fairly subdued music compared to the other acts, but maybe that’s just me. Guess I should also check out the old 57s (er, I think that’s what Tammy said they reminded her of… not sure since it was kinda loud in there).

I’ve seen the Living Blue previously, and they fit with what I’d remembered. Clearly most of the people there on Friday night had come to see them play as they swarmed around the stage when they got started. I will say I thought their show I caught at Cowboy Monkey was more entertaining (perhaps because it was a more intimate venue and the place was comfortably packed).

Good stuff overall. Was kinda fun getting to hang out with Rachel and Tammy in their natural habitat so to speak.

<rant>
Although a lot of their associates clearly don’t think very highly of CU… sort of reminded me of all the Chicago Bears fans who had the nerve to come down and ruin our poor little town for a weekend (several times over the course of a season while the Bears were playing at our stadium while theirs was under repairs/construction) and then to have the nerve to complain about everything (there’s too much traffic… well duh you guys were the traffic, it smells bad… well duh you’re in farm country, etc etc).
</rant>

I have it on good authority that…

Published
by
derek
on April 7, 2006
in General and Musika
. 0 Comments

“Indie rock is coming to town.” :)

This is Grand

Published
by
derek
on March 12, 2006
in General and Musika
. 0 Comments

Lee and I trekked up to Chicago to catch The New Pornographers / Belle & Sebastian play at the Riviera Friday night.

I handled travel plans (directions to the Park&Ride station where we parked and caught the “L”, trains to take, transfers to make, how to get to the theater, last train we’d have to catch).  Pretty uneventful trip for the most part.  The most interesting part was how the bike lane to the side of the road in Chicago was used as a thug passing lane by many.  Successfully made it to the P&R without wrecking and caught the Green line to Roosevelt.  Accidently transferred to the Orange line instead of the Red (Red was subway while Green/Orange are both elevated), but fortunately caught the one headed toward the Loop instead of to Midway.  Rode around the loop till State/Lake where we could transfer to the Red.  The Loop itself was kind of an interesting experience.  The train moves slow enough (with all the frequent tight turns) that you get a good look at downtown from up there.  Made our way on up to Lawrence and caught sight of the theater from the train.  Roamed around a bit until we found Gigio’s that served up some tasty thin crust pizza (little slightly scuzzy hole in the wall type joint I’d read good reviews about after doing a quick net search for restaurants in the area).
Excellent show.  The Riviera was an interesting venue.  Had a very “old opera house” sort of vibe.  Largely general admission with room for a decent size crowd standing on the ground floor by the stage and a fair sized balcony above.  Very clearly supported by Miller Lite since there were at least six bars on the main floor (a few more out in the hallway, as well as in the hallways on the upper levels).  Was definitely wanting for personal space by the time B&S got on the stage though.  Had a reasonable amount of space when TNP were up, but after their set, people slowly forced their way up by the stage until I didn’t have room to move my arms from my sides… and I got to know one guy’s leather pants covered ass a whole lot better than I would’ve liked. :)
Managed to get our transfer right on the way back, but the “L” experience was definitely a bit more colorful on the way back than it had been earlier… A fellow hopped on with his wife and sat by us.  Sat smack in the middle of the two seats with his bag to his left.  As she tried to sit next to him he hollered at her “Owww, yo sittin on me woman!” (or something of that general nature).  Then he went on to spout an assortment of angry drivel while she listened in silence.  This made more sense after he pulled out a couple of brown paper sacks, took a swig from something with a screwcap that smelled like cheap whiskey and then integrated this into the bottle of gatorade he had in the other sack.  A little later on, there was a young fellow that didn’t felt like switching cars (which was a fairly common pasttime of the younger crowd, but this fellow rode for quite a while in the gap between the cars).  Oh, and when we got off at our stop I noticed some hair extensions someone had left in one of the seats…
Oh, and the title of the post.  One of the stops is at Grand, and we found the train announcement rather amusing at the time (a very subdued “This is Grand”).  Of course, I also found the end of the line announcement “This is as far as this train goes” somewhat amusing as well.

The violin’s never been so cool…

Published
by
derek
on February 4, 2006
in Musika
. 0 Comments

Caught Andrew Bird last night with Lee at the Canopy Club. Impressive live show. I was really amazed how much can come out of so few people. If you’ve never heard Andrew Bird, his music has lots going on. Very melodic. The show (and presumably his album too) was performed by two people using slick audio equipment. They’d play several measures on one instrument, loop it, then play along to it with other stuff. Bird plays the violin, an electric guitar, sings all the vocals, whistles (reminiscent of the little bird Woodstock accompanying the girl in the ice skating competition in one of those old Peanuts tv specials if you know what I’m talking about…), and occasionally kicks out a few accent notes on a small xylophone.

He was accompanied by Martin Dosh who played keyboards and drums in a similar manner. Dosh played a couple of “instrumental” tracks as one of the opening acts immediately preceding Bird’s performance. Could swear I’ve heard his tune “Sam the Cat” somewhere previously…

Haley Bonar got things started with some acoustic guitar/keyboard tracks sometimes backed up by a guy on an electric bass. Beautiful voice. Reminded me a bit of early Jewel (the more thoughtful/sorrowful tracks as opposed to the peppier ones… before she went and tried to go all trashy mainstream pop).

Unfortunately, the crowd was largely composed of rude undergrads (the Canopy’s real close to the Quad) who couldn’t stop chatting during the first couple of performances (especially bad during the first act). Felt kinda bad for her having to perform in front of a reasonably large crowd, at least 2/3rds of which couldn’t care less that she was up there. No accounting for the bad taste of rude people I guess.

I love indie music!

Published
by
derek
on January 21, 2006
in Musika
. 0 Comments

Finally got to see The Reputation live… and they rocked! Went to see them last night with Lee at Cowboy Monkey here in CU and they were fantastic. Great show. Can’t beat the price either. $8 cover for 3 bands playing a 45 minute set each. And Lee and I were right up there by the stage. Couldn’t get much closer without completely losing my hearing. :) A good time was definitely had by all.

The Rep led the night with a bunch of my favorites from their two albums, and at least one track they’re working on for a new album. Excellent stuff! They were followed up by Dressy Bessy which left me quite favorably impressed. They put on a great show and I’ll have to check out more of their stuff. The Living Blue (formerly The Blackouts) brought the night to a close and put on quite a show… just not quite as much my taste as The Rep and Dressy Bessy.

And to continue my quest for meeting cool indie music folk, I met the members of The Rep. Nice bunch. Kinda wild to think Elizabeth Elmore’s a lawyer when she’s not doing the whole band thing. Their new bass player seems like a pretty good match too. Keeping my eye out for next time their in town. Oh, and if you get the chance you might check out the sample tracks they’ve got up on their Myspace… including a new demo track.

Movies, Music, and Birthdays Oh My!

Published
by
derek
on November 28, 2005
in Film, General and Musika
. 0 Comments

Took a vacation of sorts down to SoFlo (hey, SoCal’s accepted, why not SoFlo for the sunshine state?) with Amanda to visit the folk this past week for Thanksgiving and Birthdays and so forth. Really spent a fair portion of my time going through the crap in my room from my childhood. Not so fun and I’m surprised Amanda didn’t kill me for wasting her limited vacation time in this manner, but at least we got to go to Monkey Jungle. I assume I’ve mentioned this place previously (although a brief search of the blog says I haven’t), but it’s a pretty cool zoo-type place where the people walk around in little caged in walkways with the monkeys roaming free on the outside! You can buy little boxes of dried fruits (raisins, cranberries, apricots) as well as sunflower seeds and feed them by placing the treats in little metal food dishes that dangle from the ceiling of your cage on little chains. The monkeys sit up there and reel in the bowls by pulling up the chain and grab all the treats. It’s really a cool place. Check out the photos I took the last time we went. We also had an outstanding Thanksgiving dinner thanks to Amanda, chef extraordinaire. This included a tasty italian-style turkey roll (stuffed with italian sausage, prosciutto, olives and sage… from the “Everyday Italian” show), mashed potatoes, stuffing, fancy green beans, cranberry-pear relish and pecan pie for dessert. Yum. While I was down there I snagged some movies from my Dad… namely some old Bogey stuff (Big Sleep, Key Largo, Maltese Falcon) and Day the Earth Stood Still (one of my all-time favourite sci-fi flicks out of the 50s).

Came home to find my pre-ordered Calamine CD (”What We Forgot To Remember”) had arrived. For those not in the know, they did the theme song for Adult Swim’s Sealab 2021 which just happens to be one of the damned funniest things on tv. This album’s been in the works for some time (saw on their website it was slated for release last Spring). From what I’ve read, I guess they’ve had some trouble nailing down the sound for the album and had a fair bit of life getting in the way (eg Julie had a baby). The official release date is not till January, but I got it now since I pre-ordere direct from the band. Mmmmm… indie pop. Good stuff.

Another November, another couple of birthdays for Amanda and I. I’d given Amanda a necklace right before we left and she gave me a workout bag to take the gym (there’s plans for a lens for my camera, but until I can figure out exactly what I want…) While we were down in Miami my folk gave us some cool stuff they’d picked up on their trip to Egypt (suppose I should upload some of the pics from their trip since they aren’t likely to do so). Came home and had a more traditional turkey dinner for our birthdays with Amanda’s family. They gave me a guide to digital photography (which I can most certainly use) and the movie Garden State. Had the chance to watch it for the first time yesterday and I have to say that movie’s most enjoyable. Excellent writing/directing debut for Zach Braff (you might know him from the show Scrubs). Thanks a bunch Rachel!

mobiBLU DAH-1500i

Published
by
derek
on September 1, 2005
in Geek, General and Musika
. 1 Comment

So I broke down and bought a new mp3 player to take with me when I go jogging… well jogging/walking… well really more walking than jogging, but I’m still building up toward that. Anyway, looks like it should be a pretty cute little unit. Key features:

  • It’s about a 1″ cube
  • has a little OLED display
  • comes in 256MB, 512MB, and 1GB versions (I got the 512)
  • has an FM radio (can even record it at up to 160kbps)
  • 8-10 hours of battery life when playing mp3s
  • USB2.0 and looks like any other flash drive when you connect it to a computer

Seems pretty slick, and operates at the same price point as the iPod shuffle. Oh, and it also supports WMA and DRMed WMA for whatever that’s worth. And it’s sold exclusively at Walmart of all places.



Reviews: I4U, PCMag