Blog Round Up

I admittedly have too many blogs on my RSS feed- from news sources (Pitchfork, Seterogum- yes, music news) to lolcatz.
In this feature I'm adopting, I'll throw out some blogs that you might want to check out and give a few reasons why you might want to.

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Ryan Adams' "Foggy"

Mr. Internet Personality himself (see: his homepage and DJ Reggie and other interesting monikers) is at it again.

He began "fickleblogging", in the words of Pitchfork, a few weeks back, eventually naming the tumblr blog "Foggy".

With multiple posts daily, including quotes, iphoto self portraits and videos of Sunday afternoons on the town and of stuffed animals that upload videos while he's "out shopping at Marc Jacobs", it stands to be an interesting find.

The most interesting aspect of Mr. Adams' work is the notion of the entries on the said blog, it's not very clear on whether they are actual thoughts or random fictitious ramblings from good ole D. R. himself.


Mr. Adams, Warhol stripes & all

Of course, in this world of fickleblogging, the unknown end was due to come before long, and at this point, it has. I woke up this morning to find farewell posts on the blog, making the morning a little bit sadder for me. In his leaving, though, yet another video has been posted and it's a pretty good song. Made me almost forgive the craziness of D.R. (as I now prefer to call him).

Of course, the image of the Declaration of Independence is...random.

Anyways, if you dig the sound of his work, check out this video and check out what's left of the blog...you know it could, literally, all be gone tomorrow...


CROSSED-OUT NAME from Ryan Adams on Vimeo.

***
And next time, hopefully I won't catch the end of a blog, as opposed to when it just starts. So is life, I guess...

The Avett Brothers

"There's a time [now] and a place [now]"
- from "Color Show"
[much better when hearing the "now"s screamed in the song]




[2 of the 3 boys- by Crackerfarm]

These guys are one bunch that I've been playing a lot lately, particularly in the car, windows down. The various tracks that I've found here and there cover most of their work, the newest being the album . The North Carolina boys also have a few more full lengths and a handful of eps that are floating around the universe. Their well rounded alt. country sound that fuses a love of bluegrass, folk and classic country, complete with a dash of rock that chills out at moments for epic ballads (see: "The Ballad of Love and Hate").

After seeing the list of artists playing Bonnaroo this year, the Avetts made me delve into the band more, my initial find by the boys, the song "Matrimony". The somewhat more agressive and upbeat track became a daily sing along for me (the band also has a song that is preloaded on the newer Zune Mp3 players, as my brother discovered this past Christmas morning).

The Avett Brothers are currently touring , making a stop April the 18th at the Rites of Spring festival at Vanderbilt University in Nashville (same nite as they play the Grand Ole Opry and the Okkervil River show that will be across the town). June 14th they also will touch down at Bonnaroo.

A video introduction to the band:

Website
Myspace
HypeMachine

To Whom I Owe the Credit

Going off to college usually causes many changes to occur; new friends, settings, etc. showing different aspects of life that one might not notice.

I myself experienced this a few months into my freshman year. I had made a friend who lived in the same building as I did, David. Thanks to his power of a great mix cd, my life was changed.

One afternoon, I was feeling icky and was handed off a 4 cd long mix set of songs, via the stairwell. After receiving the new tunes, I sat down to hear what would be the future of my listening. Lucero, Okkervil River, Ryan Adams (who I had already found a love for in high school and rediscovered), Kings of Leon, The Decemberists, Kyle Andrews (one of my favorite Nashville artists), Guster, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, and even more hit my ears, opening my eyes to what all existed in the world and.

At first I didn't realize what an effect the tracks were going to have on me, but the majority of stuff that I listen to today. He really showed me what was out there and I found my niche in what, I guess, could be called the world of indie (if you simply just pull everything together).

I haven't seen him in quite a while, probably since we moved out of the first year dorm and I never really let him know what an influence that mix had on me, but now I've got my chance:

Thank You, David Jenkins.

***
Speaking of my younger days in Murfreesboro, the possibility of moving back to Murfreesboro is back on my radar. We'll see how that goes, but I'm thinking it might just be the thing to do, seeing as my credits won't all transfer to UTC and I have to take atleast one class at MTSU before I get my minor finished, and I have to get that done (you think I'm wasting the other 13 hours in that field? No way!). We'll just have to wait and see what's going down.

***
Countdown til Okkervil River/ New Pornographers show: 24 Days. Woohoo!


-jenny

Biased Bands and Expensive Shows

In all of my days as a music listener/fanatic/junkie, there is this one issue that in discovering new music that I’m over: preconceived biases on certain artist or songs. These can be shaped by many different things, of course. Be it because of an ex, too much hype or a number of other possible factors, it just stinks.

Case in point, Dinosaur Jr..

Before even giving the band a chance, a) J. Mascis freaked me out with his hair that’s not possibly naturally that color and b) had a ton of hype I didn’t understand from the twenty-somethings who were in high school when the band was in its heyday. Add to this the massive love for the band an ex had, up until this week I had never really been able to listen to the band’s music.

What did it was Broken Social Scene, particularly Kevin Drew. The song “Backed Out on the…” is one of the greatest I’ve heard in a while- loud guitars, total party vibe, putting it all out there for the listener. After seeing the video for the song, I realized that Mr. Mascis happens to play guitar on the song and also does appear in the video. Knowing he was involved put me off of the song a little bit but I refused to give up. I had to move on and keep rocking out and singing along way too loudly in the car to the chorus. So I tried my best. And my best, surprisingly, did work this time.

It is important to note in my quest to figure out what the big fuss about Dinosaur Jr. is all about, the trek for the answer was a long one (I tell you, I really did want to like them somehow but just had this mental block…). After asking many friends about this greatness, a stranger wound up convincing me to give them a chance, thanks to his passionate run down of seeing Mascis play live. Well, that and the fact that Kevin Drew would jam out with him, too.

Anyways, I was listening to said song by Drew this afternoon and I finally realized why I enjoyed the song: the loud guitars that sound like they’re turned up to 11 and that was thanks to J. Mascis.

So by default, I think I really do like Dinosaur Jr

**

Evidentally M.I.A. is bringing her sound to Nashville in the next month or so. Holy F*** is opening (oh those profanity named bands. Trend of the year) and I was thinking this would be a pretty good show, but one thing caught me off guard and the thought of showing up left my mind: $28 in advance, $31 day of the show.

That’s quite a chunk of change, particularly when I’ll be seeing her at Bonnaroo in June, anyways. If you suck it up and go, let me know how it is. I’ll be at home, plotting how to use that $30 I saved (plus gas money) for Bonnaroo season.

**

And for some personal excitement in my life, one of the trends for spring/summer is evidentially the Ray Ban, old school sunglasses. I picked up a pair at Claire’s for less than ten bucks and can’t help but feel a little Dylan-esque when they’re on. Not that I’m complaining- Dylan’s a pretty good guy to feel like.

**speaking of photos- just put up a lot on the 365 project album on my flickr if you want to check it out. Fo Sure.

Racountours "guerilla" album release

So Jack White and crew just won my heart.

Release a record and only announce it the week before it drops? Put it out on all formats [including vinyl] on the same day?

GENIUS.

I'm pretty sure this method of realease means I'm going to purchase the album the day it comes out, or atleast sometime next week. Of course, solely doing so to support the notion of music being real and not all about press, pre-sales or the money factor.

I knew that Jack kept it real and he has once again proven it.

check out more about the band here and buy the record when it comes out here!

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Two other random thoughts:

-I'm wearing the same thing I did yesterday, again today. I'm really digging the new line for summer from VS Pink. Peace signs, love and bohemia all the way...

- This New Pornographers album, "Challengers" is one I'm glad I picked up last week. It's really growing on me and lets me know that I'm in for a treat come next month's show.

Have a one!

SXSW: as seen from TN

My thoughts on what I read/saw, via "the blogs"

-I will give Pitchfork props on the photos, particularly the amount of them
[Pitchfork's Culmination of SXSW coverage]

-Nashville Cream- Not as in depth as Pitchfork, but much more entertaining. SXSW without a badge as expereinced by free food and drink taking, couch hopping Seth con Queso is quite entertaining. I'm looking for a wrap up after he recovers.

-Speaking of Nashvillites, The Nobility posted some nice photos on their flickr.

I vote the photo of Caitlin Rose, from their page, pretty much the most adorable thing ever:


-I was suprised to not hear a huge huge fuss about Vampire Weekend. Maybe they're running down a little bit...? I read around that their set was good, but not the hype like has been going on as of late.

-Jens Lekman, the previously mentioned Vampire Weekend, My Morning Jacket, Bon Iver, etc. all have sets on NPR. The party was in conjunction with other stations/independent outlets, such as KEXP and a few other folks. I'm not sure if they're downloadable yet, but I have listened to Jens and part of VW and it was pretty good stuff, great sound. NPR is one of the best sites I know of for live sets, regardless what time of year it is.

- Surprisingly enough, some of the band I would have thought to draw a crowd/press only garnered a little bit of coverage, from what I have seen so far. Some of these bands are Los Campesinos!, No Kids [who I got back into after seeing a few photos and reading a short paragraph on some blog. They're quite eclectic and cover a lot of territory..just check it out.], Okkervil River, etc.

- Bands with profanity in their names, guess they're in this season..

-I can't find the source or the quote, but there was a thought that if you are able to ever see Moby and Justice play a party in a warehouse, go. Personally, if I could ever go to a Justice party, I'd be a pretty happy camper for a while.

-I'm going to hold out on the bands that seem to have gained the most hype due to playing the festival. It's too early to say, at this distance from the actual shows.


And I have to say, I was hating on SXSW but I'll admit it- I deep down wanted to go. And we can call that most of the reason I was hating.

Just don't tell anyone I admitted to that...

Have any thoughts on Austin and their little gathering of artists, journalists and music lovers? Let's compare notes...

Have a great one!
Jenny

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And yes. the Wilco show review is still on its way. I'm trying to get it together to use for a short paper in my art appreciation class, too. I've just gotta sit down and write down what's floating around my head...

What I Want To Do When I Grow Up

Two and a half years into college I finally had a moment where I know what I want to do when I grow up.

I want to be a journalist.

Of course, the original plan for college was to be a journalist, but after a little bit of consideration and seeing how hardcore the courses sounded at MTSU in the journalism department. Add to that kinda being burnt out on writing after four years of writing stories for the “teen page” of the Chattanooga Times Free Press and it was time for a change.

The other nite I submitted a piece that I’d written for the Murfreesboro Pulse to write for a record label’s website. So far, I haven’t heard anything back but it doesn’t matter. It just worked.

So alas, I’ve gone from one end of the spectrum in Communication Disorders and then back to where I started.

I don’t know where I’m going this fall or what I’m doing but I think I want to be a travel writer. I think. I want to get a degree that’s a culmination of photography, English, journalism, children’s lit., recording industry. That kind of degree doesn’t really exist. But I’m going to try and make do with it.

Going to Boston this summer with the family will be my dry run of travel writing. Unless I do so before then, even. Who knows what will come up in the future…

**
Wilco is rocking SNL. And I’m pretty much pumped for tomorrow nite’s show. It’s not everyday that you can say you are seeing the band that played Saturday Nite Live the nite after they rocked it in NYC. I’ll be sure to post a review/photos (if I can take any)/set list/etc.