http://hoochenanny.com
Pour les fans de Indé et Alternatif, Rock, Pays, Folk & Blues, et Pop.
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The band takes their name from a Virginia Woolf quote. Truth be told this is quite a fitting lineage as, like Woolf herself, fewer artists give quite as convincing a portrayal of someone on the verge of a mental or nervous breakdown as Modest Mouse.
Isaac Brock’s is the man responsible for that. His voice could convincingly stand up with the likes of Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Morrissey and David Bowie as one of the acquired tastes that you’ll eventually wonder how you ever did without it.
However, it’s when his guttural howl delivers his lyrics that things get truly worrying. The evocative images of everything from the endless dust bowl deserts of the American West, to the sheer expanse of space and the cold, unfeeling ocean posit how we as individual people can possibly mean anything compared to the vast canvas of existence itself. Don’t worry, there’s also some damn catchy choruses in their as well!
Catchy enough to have arguably lead the charge of indie rock into the mainstream after The Strokes and The White Stripes kicked the doors down. They have sold 1.5 million copies of April 2004’s “Good News for People Who Love Bad News”, the album which gave the world their deathless Billboard Hot 100 hit “Float On”. The follow up album 2007’s “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank”, which featured the aforementioned Johnny Marr as a member of the band for the album’s creation and subsequent tour, was certified Gold as well.
On the surface, it would seem that they are an odd band to have Gold and Platinum albums to their name, but look closer and they always temper their experimental and haunting tendencies with solid gold hooks. If R.E.M are no more, they can be satisfied in the knowledge that there are still alternative rock bands bringing literate, profound and edgy rock and roll to arenas and concert halls the world over.
Two original members remain in My Morning Jacket - frontman Jim James, and bass player Tom Blankenship. Over the course of their sixteen year career to date, the band have proven themselves to be one of the most versatile and stylistically diverse rock groups on the planet, with their unique style of psychedelic rock usually punctuated by a flurry of other influences; country, folk and even the blues have seeped into their sound as time has gone on. They’ve released six records to date; their second, ‘At Dawn’, was released in April of 2001, and marked the point at which they began to really nail down the fundamentals of their sound - tracks like ‘Death Is the Easy Way’ and ‘Just Because I Do’ laid down the blueprint for future albums.
‘It Still Moves’, released in September 2003, marked their real critical breakthrough, with ‘Run Thru’ being ranked as one of Rolling Stone’s ‘100 Greatest Guitar Songs’. They expanded their burgeoning fanbase in October 2005 with the considerably more polished ‘Z’, and ‘Evil Urges’, from June 2008, cemented their place as one of the premier indie rock bands in America. They received rapturous reviews for their latest LP, ‘Circuital’, in 2011; since then, the individual members have taken some time away from the band to focus on other projects, with James releasing a solo album in 2013.
Guster was formed in 1991 when the members met each other at a freshman orientation at Tufts University in Boston. A year after their formation they booked their first gig as Gus, later independently releasing their first album entitled “Parachute.” Shortly after, they renamed the band to Guster due to another artist who already took the name Gus.
In 1996 Guster again independently recorded and released their second album entitled “Goldfly,” which was later re-released when they signed with Sire Records in 1998. A year later they released a third studio album with the title “Lost And Gone Forever” followed by television appearances such as on the Late Show with David Letterman. After the release of their fourth studio album, they also released a live album/DVD from their performances in Portland, Maine.
Led off by the single, “Manifest” Guster released a fith studio album in June 2006. Later that same year the band won the Album of the Year award at the Boston Music Awards. Continuing their string of success they released “Easy Wonderful” in October 2010, and before setting out on tour, it was announced that Joe Pisapia would be touring with k.d Lang and would be replaced by Luke Reynolds. By 2014 they worked on and released an album entitled “Easy Wonderful” which was released on their independent label, Ocho Mule label.
Joywave was first formed in 2010 in Rochester with Daniel Armbruster on vocals, Joseph Morinelli on guitar, Sean Donnelly on bass, Travis Johansen on keyboard and Paul Brenner on drums. Inspired by 80s electronic music, the group self-released their first single, “Ridge” followed shortly by their first mix tape, “77777” in 2011. A year later in 2012 they digitally released their first EP album (also self-released) entitled “Koda Vista.” The following year they released yet another mix tape entitled “88888.”
In 2013 Joywave collaborated with fellow electronic group, Big Data, for the hit song “Dangerous.” The song reached multiple Billboard charts, including Number 1 on the US Billboard Alternative Chart, and was fairly successful on an international scale as well. Additionally, Joywave’s single, “Tongues” features KOPPS did considerably well with the music video hitting over 300,000 views, and was featured on the video game, FIFA 15. In March 2014 they released another EP entitled “How Do You Feel?” via the label Hollywood, Cultco. The group has also made a number of television appearances, including a performance with Big Data on Late Night With Seth Meyers, as well as festival appearances like Lollalapalooza, Osheaga, and multiple appearances at CMJ in New York City. They have played alongside other indie alternative bands like Little Daylight, Grouplove and Bad Suns.
I remember hearing about Modest Mouse back in the early 2000s, so I was surprised to see them come to my town and play a sold-out show at a local concert hall. Their live sound is a lot more raw and intense than their singles, such as Float On, which I came to love them for. Instead, they have many songs where they sound more like a garage band than a polished indie force - but that's a good thing! I was impressed by the experimentation the guitarists tried in almost every song.
Even though some of it was very noisy, the majority of the songs were all based on a powerful beat and melody so nothing was really lost. I was actually really appreciative of their live skills, especially how they changed up parts of The Good Times Are Killing Me for a live performance.
The crowd was very respectful during their less-intense songs, especially when the entire band was performing together to make a really awesome folk sound.
My Morning Jacket, or MMJ, are Nashville's finest psychedelic progressive jam rock group. There are a whole lot of other genre descriptors that could be thrown in there as well, but we don't have all day! Simply put: from their debut LP "The Tennessee Fire" to 2011's "Circuital," My Morning Jacket have an impressive body of work. Transforming into a more heavily psychedelic outfit with more reliance on experimental electronics in the past few years, bandleader Jim James has never let the group stagnate. His own solo albums, which are an outlet for softer, more personal songs, echo deeply the whole band's sound.
MMJ is host every year to a massive music retreat for die-hard fans, called One Big Holiday. It's a dream of mine to someday attend, but for now I'm content with having seen them in December of 2012. And what a show it was! Starting out with the most tremendous stage entrance I've ever seen, the theatrics the band is famous for immediately captured the audience, and never let them go. Starting out with the ironically named "Victory Dance," the massive 22-song, 2-set show was a thoroughly evangelizing experience through and through. My favourite song, "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream, Pt. 2" was the closer before the encore, and the way it was delivered with James dancing around the stage, electronics dangling from his neck, frantically pushing buttons like a man trying to diffuse a bomb, was absolutely astonishing. The electricity of the crowd was palpable, and the shared hypnotic state was as mesmerizing as anything else I have been a part of.
Should you see MMJ if you get the chance? Hell yes. Even as a broke college student, I'd pay twice the money again for tickets. 10/10.
Although Guster started playing underground shows during the early years of the band, they soon found themselves breaking into the musical mainstream playing to huge audiences that were dying to hear them live.
Guster is able to get rich atmospheric sounds live with crisp, pristine acoustic guitars shimmering over their ornate soundscape. The band’s main songwriters, Ryan Miller and Adam Gardner, have excellent dynamics on stage with Adam usually singing the chorus in a deeper vocal range and Ryan singing a harmony in a higher pitch to create a rich sound. Their vocal harmonies are also interesting because Ryan and Adam are often singing different lyrics when they are harmonizing. The band’s drummer, Brian Rosenworcel, also has a unique style of performance often playing with his bare hands and using different drums than a usual drum kit such as bongos. Brian’s drumming style was so unique and entrancing that his fans have labeled him as the “Thundergod”.
The band wants the environment of their performance to be very open and friendly so they do not enforce any restrictions on live taping and allow the audience to freely record their live performances if they want. The band also follows unique traditions during their live performances such as letting the drummer sing obscure cover songs for the encore. During their performance of “Airport Song” the audience has a tradition of throwing ping-pong balls onto the stage after the end of the song. Guster is also known for performing hilarious antics on stage as well as maintaining a close relationship with their audience. Guster is well loved by their fan base and have impressed numerous of respectable musicians that they have toured with such as Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds, and Pete Yorn. You never know what to expect at a Guster performance. You could hear a cover of the Cheers theme song or you might see the band dancing with KFC buckets on their heads (all things which the band has done), but you can definitely expect to be in awe of their immense talents and their catchy music.
It seems as though a lot of really good indie rock/electronic rock bands are coming out of New York; case in point, Joywave. The Rochester band consisting of Daniel Ambruster (vocals), Sean Donnelly (bass), Joseph Morinelli (guitar), Paul Brenner (drums) and Benjamin Bailey (keyboard) have been acquiring a pretty solid fan base sine their inception in 2010.
I really enjoyed the opportunity to watch their live set. When you see them for the first time, you wouldn’t really expect much, because they seem like just a bunch of young teens; however, once they start playing you really get into them. Their music is a bit drum centric, but not too much where you don’t question whether they are an electronic rock band. One of my favorite performances was “Somebody New” because it seemed to be more emotional driven than when you listen to the studio-recorded version. Most important about choosing to see their live show is the chance to witness their chemistry together. They don’t necessarily make a lot of eye contact, but as you watch them play, you can see how perfectly in sync they are with each other; and that’s something that can’t be faked. They feel the music and let that drive their performance.