I first caught wind of Baio from being a former member of Vampire Weekend. His new album is 80’s pop throwback perfection, and it’s a consistently good record! It was great seeing him perfom at the Grog Shop - and I particularly loved his merch setup (see below).
#nofrills.
My second show in Denver was seeing New Madrid at Lost Lake in Denver. Nestled in a fun, gritty little area of Denver, I felt like I was hanging out with the coolest people in the city.
I was able to take a trip to Denver this Summer, and of course I had to catch a couple shows. Seeing this Luke the Knife (Lotus) show was a true party - and Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox is such a great space as well!
I can’t believe that this is my first time seeing Bloc Party live, after all these years. It was a no frills setup, with only their energy to carry the show - and it worked. These guys have been around for quite some time, and it was nice to bring a friend who I hadn’t seen in a while either.
(Catching up!) Since we didn’t have our usual Robyn night out on Sunday night after the Pitchfork Music Festival, we tried out this official Pitchfork after party. Holly Herndon never ended up performing at the Festival because of technical glitches, so we weren’t sure what we were getting into. The show on this night was quite… interesting, and a little esoteric for my taste. Visually - excellent.
Lissie has an utterly charming video for Wild West, where she wrangled 4 boys to make the video - perfectly capturing what is the Wild Wild West for these boys. Gwen Stefani brings her unique classy style back to the world of pop, captured nicely here in Misery. MØ could almost thank Gwen for creating a plan for her, showing similar aesthetic in Final Song.
Bonus: This one is all about collaboration. Elliphant has collaborated with MØ, but I wasn’t expecting this one with Big Freedia!
Blondfire releases a washed out, kaleidoscopic video for Domino, matching the vibe of the song perfectly. Jon & Roy are back with another found footage video for Quatro. Speaking of found footage, The Hidden Cameras has a new song and video for The Day I Left Home.
BONUS: This is a NSFW video by Brendan Canning (co-founder of Broken Social Scene). Not because it’s sexy in any way - but there is a lot of nudity. A LOT.
I know this is a little late, but this is still so sad. One of my Cleveland institutions is gone. SO MANY shows there, and many nights that didn’t even make the blog...
Cleveland 19 News Cleveland, OH
"Owner Bruce Madorsky and proprietor Jenna Juredine have decided that the 30th anniversary milestone provides an opportunity to celebrate the life of a music venue known for giving many musicians their debuts. Their father, the late Martin Juredine, opened club on September 19, 1986, in an old carriage house on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. He ditched the jukebox and began having local musicians play a couple of times a week. He booked a bit of everything: Poetry readings, potlucks, weddings and receptions."
CAZZETTE has a strikingly beautiful video (to match the song) for Blue Sky. After coming off a great performance at Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica last month, Years & Years release a … rabid … video for Worship. Ladyhawke cleans it up with an infectious pop groove on Wild Things.
Bonus: Peaches is her excessive self with her video for Vaginoplasty, which granted is excessive itself (in all the right ways).
Once again M.I.A. pulls out a banger of song - and video - for Go Off. Things only step up a notch with Simian Mobile Disco’s deep beat art with Staring at all this Handle. Glass Animals serves up it’s newest video for off Life Itself, coming out in August.
Bonus: Yeasayer has another odd stop motion video for I Am Chemistry. It’s really hard to take your eyes off it!
