What's On Will's iPad: September 2013 Edition

Here are some newer releases that have been dominating the ol' iPad of late.  Please leave a comment and let me know what you like and also, more importantly, what you're listening to these days.  I'm always in the market for new tunes.

The following four records are getting lots of spins recently:

Volcano Choir: Repave

Justin Vernon and Collections of Colonies of Bees come together for a great release of multi-instrumental songwriting and lush soundscapes.  Fans of Vernon's most famous group, Bon Iver, will find Volcano Choir hits closer to what they may be used to, rather than Vernon's earlier record this year with The Shouting Matches, (which was a straight-ahead blues rock album that I happen to love). The album functions wonderfully as a whole piece and is a diverse listen throughout.

The Generationals: Heza

While this record's been out since April, I have really been getting into it of late, in large part to the frequent radio play they are getting from 88.9 Radio Milwaukee.  This whole album is catchy indie-pop rock form the New Orleans duo.  "Put a Light On" is an infectious, stand out track.  Be forewarned, click on the video below and you'll have the melodic hook of this tune stuck in your head all day.

Okkervil River: The Silver Gymnasium

I am a huge fan of Will Sheff's narrative storytelling songwriting, and he and his bandmates really deliver on The Silver Gymnasium, an album which I'll say is their strongest effort since 2009's, The Stand Ins.  I'm not sure if I agree with the critics who classify this as "stadium rock," as I cannot envision Okkervil River selling out the Pabst Theater, let along a stadium, but certainly think that Sheff at times ventures into more guitar driven pounding choruses not unlike earlier Bruce Springsteen tracks.

Hanni El Khatib- Head in the Dirt

The Dan Auerbach produced sophomore effort from Hanni El Khatib is a rocking disc, filled with guitar heavy hooks and bluesy jams.  On the single, "Skinny Little Girl," El Khatib almost sounds like Auerbach himself on vocals.  If you like more recent Black Keys releases, you'll likely enjoy this as well.  

Youth Lagoon- Pabst Theater, September 12, 2013

One of the great things about winning free tickets is that you get the opportunity to check out shows you might not otherwise go to.  To be honest, Youth Lagoon was not an act that was on my radar to see.  I had seen them last year when they played a $10 show at Turner Hall, and found that they played a meager 30 minute, uninspiring set.  Granted, Trevor Powers, the singer/songwriter behind Youth Lagoon told the crowd that night that he was very ill, and he played like it.

This time, three songs into their near 90 minute set, Trevor Powers addressed the crowd stating, "Last time I was in Milwaukee, I was really sick and I hope to make it up to you tonight."  That he did and then some, making this a surprisingly good show.  In just a year's time, Youth Lagoon has really stepped up their live show.  First off, they now have a stage set up that fits with their music.  Long white curtains were draped from the ceiling, projecting colorful lights against the backlit stage.  Secondly, Powers and his bandmates have learned to use their skills better.  Powers himself is an accomplished pianist and keyboard player, and was able to showcase his musicianship both by keeping true to the album tracks as well as venturing off into some jams.

The set drew heavily from Youth Lagoon's 2013 acclaimed release, Wondrous Bughouse.  This material came across similarly to early Flaming Lips recordings from the Clouds Taste Metallic era. The highlight of the show was a very well-done rendition of "Mute" from Wondrous Bughouse, which, I dare say blew the studio track out of the water.  These guys proved to me and the few hundred others in the venue that Youth Lagoon can indeed play well live.

Grade: B+

The National- Riverside Theater, August 5, 2013

Simply put, the Cincinnati via Brooklyn quintet, The National, put on a show at the Riverside Theater this past Monday that will have people in attendance talking for months, perhaps even years to come.  The National elevated their live act once again, proving they are one of the best touring acts today.  Perhaps the combination of growing confidence from the musicians, their most accessible album to date, 2013's Trouble Will Find Me, and an incredible digital back drop consisting of a U2esque screen that projected band videos, close-ups and creative lighting effects, all helped contribute to The National's rise to the next level in their performance.

Drawing heavily from Trouble Will Find Me, but also digging into High Violet, The Boxer, and Alligator, The National delivered an over two-hour set of riveting music that had the sold out crowd engaged from the first note of "I Should Live In Salt' to the last thud of Matt Berrigner (lead singer) planting his mic stand heavily on the stage at the end of the encore number, "Vanderlyne Crybaby Geeks."  While the band has become more polished since I first saw them play the Pabst Theater in the fall of 2007, the intimacy of their performance remained palpable and a key reason they are an act you can't take your eye off.    Older favorites like "Sorrow," "Afraid of Everyone," "Squalor Victoria," and "Apartment Story" worked seamlessly with newer numbers like "This Is The Last Time," "I Need My Girl," and "Sea of Love," (which had a capacity theater of mostly early-thirtysomethings sing, in fake baritone unison,  the refrain, "and if I leave here, trouble will find me.")  Even the encore showcased the deepness of the band's catalog, playing a new track, "Humiliation," along with the always popular "Mr. November," and "Terrible Love."

Berringer is an unlikely rocker if there ever was one.  A tall and lanky man dressed in a suit with large glasses, Berringer, as always, delivered his deep baritone vocals while clutching his microphone stand, swaying back and forth, nervously twitching his hands and imbibing in glasses of wine in between numbers. The tightness of the rest of the band was noteworthy.  Like on their last tour, The National brought a horn section along.   The horns added a perfect accompaniment to the soundscapes that dominated many of the tracks.  The whole unit was firing on all cylinders, and delivered a truly memorable performance.

Grade: This is gonna be darn hard to top as show of the year

Setlist from the show:

Photos courtesy of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch.  More of Stephen's fantastic photos can be seen in Relix Magazine by following this link.

The Shouting Matches- Turner Hall Ballroom 8/1/13

If you and your close pals formed a band, what would it sound like?  For Justin Vernon, the answer to that question is a power blues trio, that goes by the name "The Shouting Matches."  Playing only a handful of shows in support of their first full-length album, Grownass Man, Vernon and his band mates, Phil Cook (of Megafun) and Brian Moen (of Peter Wolf Crier) delivered an evening of rock 'n roll in its purest form. In many ways, despite Turner Hall being as full as I recall ever seeing it, the show itself felt like you were seeing a friend's band in a small club-- equal parts intimate, friendly and accessible.

This was a no-frills rock how at its finest, featuring three very talented and engaging musicians who spent the evening enjoying one another's company and playing darn good foot-stomping music in the process.  The evening kicked off with the Grownass Man opener, "Avery Hill," which got the sold-out crowd grooving.  Heavier numbers like "Mother, When?" and "Bear" (from the limited release EP- Mouthoil) could easily have been inserted on a Black Keys record.  "I Had A Real Good Lover," sounded like bluesier classic Rolling Stones material (with Vernon singing falsetto for the only time during the evening).  "Heaven Knows" featured Cook ripping it up on harmonica over Vernon's pounding guitar riffs which brought back memories of seeing local blues man Jim Liban do likewise at the Up a Under.  My favorite track from Grownass Man, "Gallup, NM" featured Cook on organ and sounded like vintage Wallflowers.  These tracks were all accessible to the listener and pleased the audience.



 What impressed me the most about this band was the sheer musicianship exhibited on stage.  For a band who has only played a handful of shows together, it felt and sounded like these guys had been touring  for years.  Moen is a terrific percussionist, much in the same style of The Black Keys' Patrick Carney.  Cook is an accomplished organist and rhythm guitarist who held the band together.  As for Vernon, he was a real "wow" as an axe man.  His work with Bon Iver would never have given the impression that Vernon was as accomplished as he is on guitar.  His jam on "Gallup, NM" channeled Warren Haynes and even sounded a bit like the late Jerry Garcia.

Overall, this was an impressive evening of music and I felt very grateful to be able to see a rare show by a talented band.  In many ways, I liked this show just as much as the Bon Iver show I saw at the Riverside a few years ago, but for very different reasons. One thing's for certain, Justin Vernon is one talented dude and has a great career ahead of him.

Grade: A


All photos courtesy of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch.  

 Some pics of the merch:  You'd be surprised how many people in he audience were buying the "Grownass Man" take top (I was not one of them, fortunately for my wife).  This shirt is somewhat ironic in my opinion.


I also got a chuckle out of the cassette tapes.  Haven't seen one of those on sale at a show for many many years!

Foxygen- Turner Hall Ballroom, 7/28/13

The term "buzz band" seems to be most often associated these days with the California psychedelic-alternative rock duo of Jonathan Rado and Sam France, better known as Foxygen.  After all, they were named a "Best New Music" artist on Pitchfork, and had a great write up in Rolling Stone.  Their latest release, We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic is a very good album, and will most likely end up on several critics' best of the year lists, including my own.

A very good album, however, does not necessarily make an exceptional live act.   In the case with Foxygen, they have earned a reputation, in a very short amount of time, for their erratic stage presence, inner-band fighting and bickering while performing.  If this is all a big act, it's working well, as a simple Google search of "Foxygen" will draw you to a plethora of articles and blogs about the band and its inner workings (or lack thereof) without much mention of its music itself. In fact, one musician, Elizabeth Fey, who sings on the band's most played track, "San Francisco," is no longer on stage with Foxygen, after a chaotic performance at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago earlier this month.   I guess a little drama isn't a bad thing if you're a young band getting a ton of press these days.

For this evening's show, Foxygen did not fight on stage or bicker with each other.  In fact, at the end of the show, Jonathan Rado declared that this was "the best show the band has played."  That made me feel good as a fan, but also made me wonder, if this was their best, what was their worst?  There was little interplay among the two chief musicians, besides some insipid banter between Sam France and the near-capacity audience on a Sunday evening focusing on talking about Disney songs and topics in between songs.  For folks in the way front who were conversing with the musicians, this could have been kind of cute, but for the rest of us it seemed a little awkward and a lot bizarre.

From my point of view, Foxygen is a very young and talented band that needs to figure out a stage niche of their own without falling into rock 'n roll stereotypes and cliches.  At the heart of this band are two musicians who are solid songwriters.  Their modern take on the laid back, jammy nature of late '60's-early '70's psychedelic rock peaked my interest as a listener.  Lead vocalist, Sam France channels the spirit of Jim Morrison, Mick Jagger and Iggy Pop when he performs.  His stage antics go from hitting himself with the microphone, wrapping his microphone stand around his neck,  holding the mic stand backwards, standing on the monitors, climbing on the speaker stack and jumping down, and tripping several times on stage.  The out-of-control rocker image has been done in the past, and more convincingly, than Page's presence.  With that said, he did entertain visually.  The arrangements of the tunes were a bit on the sloppy side, but fit the band well.  In fact, one of the touring musicians often put his guitar down in lieu of a tambourine, channeling Joel Gion of the Brian Jonestown Massacre.  He was quite entertaining and held my attention well.

The jury is still out on Foxygen, as they are a very young band. Like many younger acts who I've seen this year, there is a lot of potential and room for growth.   If Foxygen is able to focus their creativity and energy, they have the potential to be a solid throw-back psychedelic rock act.  If not, their career may be much shorter lived.


Grade: B-

All photos courtesy of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch.

AmericanaRama: Toyota Park, Bridgeview, IL 7/12/13

Coming together to form a once-in-a-lifetime line-up, Bob Dylan, Wilco, My Morning Jacket and Richard Thompson combined for an afternoon and evening full of music dubbed the "AmericanaRama tour."  Each of these performers was known for taking the genre of roots/folk rock and pushing its sonic boundaries to new places throughout their careers.

Richard Thompson Electric Trio:
With only a half-hour set to play with, Richard Thompson and his Electric Trio made the most of their time slot, showcasing Thompson's superb axemanship.  Opening with two tracks from his most recent "Electric" album, ("Stuck on a Treadmill" and "Sally B") Thompson hooked at least one new fan (me) through his powerful British blues-rock and great jams.  Thompson joked about the irony of him being on a tour called "Americanarama," seeing that he is a British performer.  While his set was solid, his later collaborations with Wilco would steal the show.
Grade: B+

My Morning Jacket:
About three songs into a blistering hour-long set, my friend, Steve Bloom, turned to me and asked, "how is anyone going to top this?"  He was right on.  My Morning Jacket came to the stage to prove that they deserve to be among the best-of-the-best.  If this was their mission, they accomplished it by a mile. Like the other artists on this tour, MMJ are used to being headline performers who sell out mid-sized venues across the country.  Confined to an hour, the Jacket made the most of their time delivering a driving rock set which fired-up the crowd and was perhaps the best I've seen them play as a unit. And, this was in the late afternoon, without the use of their elaborate light show.

Jim James frequently told the crowd what a beautiful day it was, and with temperatures in the mid seventies and few if any clouds in the sky, he was correct.  My Morning Jacket's set provided a perfect soundtrack to this lovely late afternoon.

The band opened with a deep cut, "The Dark" off of 1999's The Tennessee Fire, and then went into the fan-favorite "Circuital" from the band's latest 2011 release by the same name.  The fun continued with rousing renditions of "Magheeta" from 2003's break out disc, It Still Moves. The Jacket mellowed things out a bit with a mid set combination of "Golden" and "Slow Slow Tune."  The band then went to their back catalog for a beautiful rendition of "Masterplan," which kicked off a very high energy portion of the show that would find Jim James moving throughout the stage, leading the crowd in sing a longs to "I'm Amazed," "Victory Dance," and "Wordless Chorus" (which featured James in his trademark cape).  The jammy "Phone Went West" followed, and was certain to be the set closer, when James boldly grabbed his flying v guitar and launched the band into a riveting rendition of their trademark cut, "One Big Holiday."  For a beautiful day, you couldn't ask for a better way to close the set or engage the crowd.

My Morning Jacket delivered an over-the-top performance that stole the show, solidifying their place as a great band who continues to challenge the boundaries of Americana music.

Grade: A+

Wilco: 
For a band that is used to playing headlining gigs and over two-hour performances, it was a little bit strange to see them confined to an hour and fifteen minute time slot. (The last time I saw Wilco when they were not the headlining act was at 1995's H.O.R.D.E. festival). In the time Wilco was allotted, the ChiTown sextet managed to keep true to the theme of Americana, with a show punctuated by collaborations and deep cuts.

Opening the show with a cut from the Mermaid Avenue album, "At the Window, Sad and Lonely" and followed it up with the Laura Cantrell cover, "When the Roses Bloom Again." These tracks started off the show off on a very mellow note.  From there Tweedy launched into "What Light," a rarely played cut off of 2008's Sky Blue Sky, which I had never seen performed before.  A passionate version of "Misunderstood" followed, with Tweedy and company paying homage to their home crowd fans.  Renditions of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot's "Poor Places," and The Whole Love's "Art of Almost" showcased Wilco's ability to push the boundaries of Americana music through experimentation.

The collaborative portion of the show followed. Richard Thompson rejoined Wilco, as has been customary on this tour to perform a few tunes.  The first of which, a cover of the Australian band Fairport Convention's "Sloth," was truly exceptional, and my musical highlight of the evening, even though I had never heard the tune before.  The guitar interplay between Thompson and Wilco's virtuoso axeman Nels Cline, transformed the musicians into a jam band for the 10 minute epic tune.  It was seriously some of the best guitar work I've seen on stage in quite some time.  Thompson stayed on with the hometown band to cover "California Stars," and then launched into "That's Not The Issue," an alt-country ho-down track off of their debut record, AM. 
Thompson then left the stage, and Tweedy grabbed the mic for the poppy, "Hummingbird" off of 2001's A Ghost Is Born, which flowed into the fan-favorite, "Impossible Germany," complete with another lengthy Nels Cline solo.

In somewhat of a dream-come-true collaboration, Wilco invited My Morning Jacket on stage to do a cover of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl," which they've played a few times on the tour thus far.  While the song was short and not really as jammed out as I was hoping for, seeing my two favorite bands play together on the same stage was a real treat.


If there was a let down in Wilco's set, I would argue that the finish was rather lackluster, with two relatively poppy "dad rock" tunes off of The Whole Love, "Born Alone," and "Dawned on Me."  These aren't bad tracks, by any means, but are normally early or mid set numbers, and left the audience with more of a "huh?" expression rather than the large perma-grins which followed MMJ's earlier set.

That said, Wilco delivered set list that was aimed to please both new and old fans and took a lot of risks and challenges in their performances and selections, making this a rather adventurous take on their Americana influenced catalog.

Grade: A-


Bob Dylan:
Oddly enough, the headliner of AmericanaRama, Bob Dylan, proved to be the most polarizing figure of the night.  For many fans who wish to hear Dylan's hits, he is a source of great irritation live.  Not only does Dylan not play "the hits," but a lot of times he alters older songs into drastically different arrangements, to a point where the only recognizable quality of the song is the lyrics.  If you know anything about Dylan, you know that lyrics have always been hard to decipher from the man, but these days are even more gravelly seeing that Dylan is 71 years old.

Since 2001's fantastic album, Love and Theft, Dylan has taken on a role of more of a dark character out of a western movie on stage.  His band, as always, was extremely tight and played a well-rehearsed set, which has been Dylan's nightly fodder.  We stayed through about a half hour of his performance, and as he played, saw a decent amount of people trickle out of Toyota Park.  To quote our concert neighbor's Facebook status, "Bob Dylan sounds like what Saturday Night Live would sound like if they portrayed Bob Dylan."  As a music fan, Bob Dylan, at this stage in his career is not going to knock your socks off like My Morning Jacket does, but, I do have a lot of respect for what he does.

Perhaps my respect for the performer clouds my review, but overall, if you know what you're getting, Dylan can be a fun, and even musically innovative act.  Many veteran acts, for instance Tom Petty and Paul McCartney, have chosen, essentially to do greatest hits shows when they perform.  They pack much larger venues than Dylan and probably leave the average fan much more satisfied upon leaving the arena.  That said, Dylan keeps putting out challenging, relevant music to critical praise.  For what it's worth, I loved hearing "Early Roman Kings" from last year's The Tempest, and found that much better than his "take" on "Tangled Up in Blue."

If Dylan was slated as an earlier afternoon act, I think his performance would have come across better. Simply put, he was upstaged by a terrific MMJ set and a collaboration-filled Wilco performance.  While we all hoped for some sort of collaboration between Dylan, Wilco, and My Morning Jacket, no such interplay occurred.  After a half-hour, we chose to forgo the rest of Dylan's set to begin the traffic-jam laden trek back to Mequon.  If Dylan comes back and plays an intimate venue, I would consider seeing him again, but overall, think my Dylan days are done.

Grade: B-

Violent Femmes/The Avett Brothers/Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros- Summerfest, 6/26/13

Exceeds expectations... those two words best sum up my feelings about the performances by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, the Avett Brothers and Violent Femmes during their opening night performance in the Marcus Amphitheater during Summerfest 2013.  Each of the acts did their best to thoroughly entertain and engage the audience.  While I've seen all of the bands before, the combination of the three lead to a very enjoyable and fun evening of music, and ultimately a premier bill that will rank among the best I've ever seen at Summerfest.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros:
Alex Ebert, Jade Castrinos and the eight or nine other musicians who were playing on stage cooked up a laid-back, fun, hippie love-fest to start off the evening.   Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros 40 minute set was packed with the majority of Edward Sharpe's hits from their 2009 debut record, Up From Below, as well as numbers from their 2011 follow up, Here.  Most notably, "Man On Fire" featured Alex jumping into the crowd and running up and down the amphitheater stairs dancing with fans, posing for smart phone photos and high fiving concert goers, including my neighbors, all while singing one of his band's hits.  The band closed with a ruckus rendition of "Home," undoubtedly their best known track, which had the crowd there for the warm-up act, dancing and jumping in the aisles.  For a support act, you can't get much better than these guys if you want to get the crowd moving and pumped for an evening of music.

The Avett Brothers:
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel music critic Piet Levy was right-on when he declared after last year's stellar performance at the BMO Harris Pavillion that the Avett Brothers would grace the big stage on their next trip to town for Summerfest.  After recently seeing the Avetts twice at the Riverside Theater and last year at the BMO Harris stage, I was a little worried at first about how their polished, yet down home Americana sound would translate in the cavernous Marcus Amphitheater.  After all, the Avett Brothers consist of musicians who mainly play bass, acoustic guitar, drums and cello, not necessarily the instrumentation we've come to expect from the majority of amphitheater bookings over the years.

Overall, the sound was solid and the band delivered an energy-packed seventeen song set that kept the crowd engaged throughout.  The band wisely focused on their more up-tempo numbers and highlighted their harmonizing abilities and exceptional musicianship.  Opening with "Live and Die" from last year's Grammy award-winning release, The Carpenter, the Avetts kept the momentum going right into "Talk of Indolence," a tune usually reserved as a set-closer or encore.  With barely a pause in between songs, the band made the most of their time on stage, delivering rousing renditions of tunes like,  "Head Full of Doubt," and "Kick Drum Heart."  On "Laundry Room," a more notable song off of 2009's I and Love and You record, the band rearragnged the number making it a bit more glossy, yet staying true to the original.  This pretty much encompasses the Avetts' musical progression as they've traveled up the ranks from a club act, theater act and now amphitheater show.  Perhaps the highlight of the set, however was the band leading the crowd in a sing-along of their staple set-closer, "I and Love and You," with the Big Bang Fireworks going off in the background.  I got goosebumps.

Setlist for The Avett Brothers.

Violent Femmes:
Drummer Victor DeLorenzo addressed the crowd as his band took the stage, "We are Violent Femmes and we're from Milwaukee, Wisconsin."  In many ways, telling the crowd what they already knew was a perfect metaphor for the Femmes headlining performance.  The songs were all ones that we already knew, and for this we, as an audience, were both comforted and grateful. 

Recently reunited after some serious inner strife amongst the band members, the Femmes returned to play Summerfest in front of a devoted hometown crowd in a loose and playful mood.  The band was as animated as I've ever seen them, most noticeably DeLorenzo.  The first ten tracks were the Femmes debut, 1983 self-titled record front-to-back.  While a dated record in terms of its sound, I would argue that there isn't an album out there that better encapsulates the general sense of adolescence than this one, and for that reason, it has timeless appeal with its listeners.

The hits, "Blister in the Sun," "Kiss Off," "Please Do Not Go," "Add it Up," and "Gone Daddy Gone," got the biggest reaction from the crowd.  You could not tell based on the stage chemistry that these were three guys who filed lawsuits against each other just years ago.  Instead, they seemed very happy and playful, albeit, showing their age as elder statesmen of the alternative folk movement. 


However, the highlight for me was not just the Femmes, but the fact that they brought along their horn section, "The Horns of Dilemma," who added brass accompaniments on several numbers.  My favorite Femmes tune, "Held Her in My Arms" came across in a classic manner with horn players (granted many of them with softball-player guts) cranking out the infectious melody on the chorus.

The fans were reminded when the band took the stage for their encore, that the word, "encore" literally means "again," and, for that, we got a second taste of the band's biggest hit, now turned baseball stadium clap-along, "Blister in the Sun."  There wasn't a fan in attendance, myself included, who didn't leave the festival grounds after seeing Violent Femmes without sporting a Summerfest logo-sized grin.


Setlist for Violent Femmes:

Grade: A+ (new #5 on my all-time "Best of the Fest" list).
All photos compliments of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch.

A view of my friend, Steve Bloom and I from the stage.  Cheers to Summerfest