Reviews

This year, particularly in music, was an odd year for me. The first half of the year was dominated by electronic music, whether it be electro-rock, airy dream-pop tunes, or retro lo-fi synth-pop. I finally attended the Ultra Music Festival after years of wishing that I could go. The festival was a great time and Miami is a fantastic city. The second half of the year involved a major shift to indie rock, freak folk, shoegaze, and post rock. While I still listened to electronic-influenced music, it was mostly combined with indie elements. This shift was likely a result of getting a radio playlist show on Indiespot on Metaphoric (check out my main page for information), which has me consistently looking for brand new alternative and indie tunes and artists. Fun times…but without further ado, here is my 2009 Year in Review.

To make the top albums list somewhat easier for myself, I’m going to split my list into an overall top list and a more electronic-focused list. It seems to be the only way I can manage to figure this out. …

Fri 7 Aug – Lollapalooza Festival

I started this review after the show and never finished it. So here it is in all it's partial glory:

White Lies

We arrived on Friday and settled in to the hotel. We wandered on to the grounds and with a shrug decided to see White Lies. It was hot, it was raining, it was crowded, we were shifting around in our ponchos getting used to the feel of them. We had no emotional connection to this band. We decided to get an early jump on Bon Iver

Bon Iver

Getting a modest jump on a crowd isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We stood in an increasingly tight space somewhat near the front of the stage. After 15 minutes or so they took the stage. I shuffled around some more in my poncho. I stood on my tip toes to try and get a better look-see. I could see my sister wasn’t feeling the love so I told her that we should move to the back. She left and I frustratingly tried to find a decent place to stand. …

Fri 7 Aug – Lollapalooza Festival

day 1 - 7 Aug

We thought we were making good time until we hit Grant Park and found the ridiculous line stretching blocks from the main entrance and then around the corner. We joined it at the base of the short side and started panicking a little when we were still so far from the front after gates supposedly opened at 11. We heard Manchester Orchestra soundchecking I Got Friends as we passed the north corner; they were pretty much the one band I really really did not want to miss and they were on at 12:15. But in a stroke of luck, we were so far back in the line that we were shunted into the north entrance ie. the one at the top of the block we were on. Phew!

As we slipped into a spot in front of the Budweiser Stage waiting for Manchester Orchestra it started to rain. We didn't have any rain ponchos or our umbrellas (turns out you can bring them into Lolla - something definitely worth knowing beforehand!) but we thought hey, whatever, we can buy 'em inside the grounds if we need 'em. …

Fri 7 Aug – Lollapalooza Festival

Lollapalooza Friday review, in bite-sized updates. Read the full review here.

The Line: I felt like I might as well have just walked out of my apartment and gone a few blocks east to the lake to find the end of the line, we were that far north.

The Weather: Being soaked to the bone (despite the umbrella) and shivering on an August day got to be a little bit ridiculous after a while.

April Smith: Unsigned artist from Brooklyn. For being the first artist to take the stage on the northern end of the festival, her music was very commanding of attention.

Hockey: New-wave quintet from Portland. They had a great energy, and managed to persevere through some initial technical difficulties. While I had never heard of their music, before, I enjoyed myself immensely… until the power went out a few songs into their set.

Manchester Orchestra: Too much screaming, not enough to keep my attention. Maybe they’re better on CD, I don’t know. …

It was another day where the sun beat down on everyone, sweltering to the point where the Chicago fire department hooked a firetruck to a giant mister and cooled the Lollapalooza crowd with small droplets of what felt like heaven.

Early Sunday, I strolled on through Kidzapalooza where the Care Bears on Fire - an awesome adolescent punk band from New York -- adorably rocked out with songs from their album called "Get Over It". Now you might be wondering why I decided to check this out. And, honestly, wouldn't you with a name like that?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3503/3812891730_d18cb34dd1.jpg



These are the Care Bears on Fire.
http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs147.snc1/5451_1140319801497_1632494959_343846_3710307_n.jpg

From there was Friendly Fires swearing at the wind for blowing away their sheet music but performed with energy that overshadowed that damn wind!

Ed Macfarlane of Friendly Fires
…

Fri 7 Aug – Lollapalooza Festival

I only made it to the Saturday sets, but it was AWESOME!!!! My highlights were Atmosphere (my hometown hip-hop heads), Santigold (frickin rocked the Playstation stage...shoulda been a main stager), Diplo (had quite a few beers in me at this point as the sun was setting at the Perry's stage :p), & Kaskade (awesome techno/house).

Fr., 7. Aug. – Lollapalooza Festival
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Fr., 7. Aug. – Lollapalooza Festival
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