Madonna (11/10/12)

So it only took 6 years, but I finally fulfilled my commitment to see Madonna live again.  And this time going from last row to 7th, which was quite the treat!  And once again, I was dazzled by the spectacle that is Cirque Du Madonna, AND that she continues pushing forward with new music - covering a lot of ground from her new album (which has some gems on it).  Particularly, the screen and raising floor pillars really made the show dynamic.  I also enjoy Madonna's statements, which in this show included LGBT & the Occupy movements.  You can check out a full review over at Cleveland.com, otherwise, see for yourself:

And some photos…

Article: Is Facebook Advertising For Bands Worth It?

Hypebot is back again with some spot-on industry insight.

Is Facebook Advertising For Bands Worth It? - hypebot

"Welcome to the world of advertising, where strength in numbers is the name of the game, and those numbers are always prefixed with a dollar sign. You want to kickstart momentum for your career then yes, select results can be seen by sprinkling some magic money dust on your musical beans. But the truth is, without genuinely generated buzz outside of the lurid lucre of mommy and daddies credit card, you would get more bang for your buck standing outside Best Buy, paying people $10 to listen to your album.

The real result of this newly formed ‘affordable’ advertising, is that we are now all taking less and less notice of the poorly shot promo pic to the right of our news feed. You know the one, declaring that if I ‘like the Foo Fighters’ then I am surely going to like ‘insert derivative band name here’. It’s taking the same nose dive in credibility that myspace did, except this time it is costing bands more than just their street cred."

(Continued... Is Facebook Advertising For Bands Worth It? - hypebot)

Tomorrow: Matt & Kim / Oberhofer @ House of Blues

These are repeat shows for me, but I'm still smitten with Oberhofer - and few can rile up an audience like Matt & Kim.  Who cares if it's at the House of Blues.  OK, I do a little - but still worth going.  I'm mean c'mon… 

Let's Go from Matt and Kim

New Release: Alt-J's An Awesome Wave

I was prepped this "New Release" post a couple weeks ago, but now that they've won the Mercury Prize (and they're sales are up 411% since) I guess I should just post it:  Here's a new album for you.  Check out Alt-J, who's a British band considered in the nu-folk category of music and with references to "the new Radiohead".  Whatever.  They were mentioned for the Mercury Prize.  They were also just in Detroit, but I missed them.  The new album *is* worth a listen however.  I'm posting some reviews below, in include videos from La Blogotheque!

 

Alt-J - An Awesome Wave ~ Album Review | Synth Pop Indie Rock

"‘An Awesome Wave’ is as diverse as it is addictive. A mixture of pop, folk, and R&B. Slinking Indian beats one song ~ then bold island beats on the next. Dark bass-lines smear across much of the album while interesting atmosphere peppers it. All this diversity comes together in one unified piece of work that amazingly doesn’t feel experimental or come across as fake.

Alt-J Besides the obvious forerunner ‘Breezeblocks’, some other notable songs on the album are: ‘Tessellate’, a smooth and seductive song. And in this song Gwil hints at how the band came up with the name Alt-J (∆) as he reveals ‘Triangles are my favorite shape’."

(Continued... Alt-J - An Awesome Wave ~ Album Review | Synth Pop Indie Rock)

Total Crush: Ezra Furman

I really like this blog to focus solely on music, but being as pervasive as music is, politics will creep in…  I had already been planning a "Total Crush" segment to this blog (similar to Guilty Pleasure) and Ezra Furman was going to be my first post - particularly motivated by the video below.   Well, then he posted this post-election blog on Tumblr which just put me over the crush edge.  I think he's an incredibly smart, dynamic, connected individual who I could just fawn over all day.  Oh, and his music is good too.  ;-)

Ezra Furman: A Guide for the Perplexed

"I think this election was a crucial step forward in that journey toward the American dream. Obama does not suffer from the terribly persistent Republican delusion that a government that works to improve the lives of its citizenry is somehow un-American. He instead suffers from the hopeful delusion that we could be ‘all in this together.’ As someone who believes in the inescapability of a certain level of delusion, I support our president’s version of madness. It may just be the sort of hopeful madness that can actually get us somewhere real. Wish me luck at my Vienna show tonight. It’s going to be tough to conceal my patriotism and optimism. Actually, I don’t think I’m going try."

(Read the Full Post here… Ezra Furman: A Guide for the Perplexed, It’s morning in Vienna. Interesting things have...)

See him in motion… swoon.

Xavier Rudd (11/4/12)

Seeing Xavier Rudd again was such a treat - and a sort of another "coming home".  His last show at House of Blues (7/24/07) was the first show I ever received a press pass for, and how thrilling it was - despite the embarrassment of my little point & shoot camera that I was using.  Flash forward 5 years, 3 albums, and a much better camera - and I was giddy about this show.

As expected, there was a hassle at the box office (oh HOB).  Upon walking in, I could tell this wasn't going to be the same as last time.  This time he was solo on stage, a smaller crowd, and I could already see a bunch of drunk Browns fans meandering about (why were they there??).  I was anticipating an acoustic nightmare.

Total props to Xavier because he was still as connected, sincere and relevant as ever.  His blend of world, folk, drumbeat is equally uplifting and inspiring - despite the drunk Clevelanders yelling at inappropriate times.  With a pared down stage & crowd, I would have much rather seen him perform at the Beachland Ballroom (omg I would LOVE that).  I'm still a die hard Xavier fan and would follow him anywhere.

www.flickr.com

Indigo Girls (11/1/12)

I didn't make much a'do about this show.  Seeing them is like a coming home…  comfortable, but not really exciting.  Seeing them at Playhouse Square was a treat.  They sounded really good and the audience participation was tops.  As far as new stuff… I'm really drawn to Amy's solo stuff these days, but I bet the Indigo Girls stuff still pays the bills.  I'm fine with that, and I'm more than happy to chip in.

Savoir Adore (10/24/112)

I'm a sucker for good pop music, which is hard to find on the live on the concert circuit - so I'm happy to give any pop band a chance…  This was my approach to Savoir Adore who I really didn't have much prior knowledge of.  I checked out their Our Nature album and liked what I heard…  They really have a lush, atmospheric pop sound about them.  Live, they were pretty good.  It's hard to drum up a bunch of excitement for such a sparse crowd, but I give these guys credit for pushing out an exuberant live show despite.  Their album is worth a listen!

Video Tuesday

Check out some new(isn) stuff!  First up is Yeasayer's Reagan's Skeleton (great song). Next, fun. stuns me again with an uplifting video for Carry On - making me want to do just that.  Finally, my favorite Canadian folkies Jon & Roy have a great song with Somebody Knows.  

 

Bonus, the xx's Chained.

New Find: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Sure they may have already hit #2 on the Billboard Charts, but I don't really follow those anyway.  I saw a bit of Macklemore back on BET's Backroom freestyle segment and thought he was good.  I also read this piece on The Lefsetz Letter too (on the changing nature of the Music Business, highlighting how Macklemore is doing this independently).  But it really wasn't until this Ellen piece that caught my attention.

But let's step back a bit.  Macklemore has been around for quite a while, but partnering up with Ryan Lewis really set things up for him.  Here's the breakthrough video for Thrift Shop.  Stunning.

This is the video that caught Ellen's attention.

Oh, did I mention he's coming to Cleveland??  <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hlVBg7_08n0?list=UUXYRdIXDdeZIf816EWAr5zQ&amp;hl=en_US" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>  Tickets are almost sold out!