'Girls' Fans Rejoice

Last week former Girls front man Christopher Owens announced he'll be releasing a solo album in January.  Many fans were distraught earlier this year to hear that Owens was leaving his band Girls, who appeared to be at the height of their game.  His solo debut "Lysandre" is said to be inspired by the event's on his 2011 tour and a girl he fell in love with during that time.  Check out the first two songs of the album below!
Christopher Owens - Lysandre's Theme/Here We Go - Soundcloud

New to me: Tame Impala and Wild Nothing

I recently got turned onto these two bands.  Both have new albums out this year that are pretty darn good.

• A comment on Youtbe for a Tame Impala video claimed 'If Pink Floyd and the Beatles fucked and had a love child it would be Tame Impala'.  Hailing from Australia, their classic psychedelic sound shines on their sophomore album "Lonerism". 
•  Channeling the 80's and drenched in reverb, Wild Nothing struck a smart and simplistic chord with me.  Their sophomore album "Nocturne" is also out now. 

Back at it

Sorry for the hiatus over the past few months, I'm hoping to post regularly again.  Stay tuned!

Boot: Spoon - Live at the Greek 8-12-06

I recently went on a Spoon kick after hearing Britt's new project 'Divine Fits'.  This is a terrific sounding show from 2006 when the band was out in support of their album "Gimme Fiction" (my personal favorite) and opening for Death Cab For Cutie.
  Spoon - I Summon You - Live at the Greek 8-12-06 by Ledjam311
Setlist:
1 - The Beast & Dragon, Adored
2 - Monsieur Valentine
3 - Stay Don't Go
4 - Jonathon Fisk
5 - I Turn My Camera On
6 - 'Tuning & Thanks'
7 - Rhythm & Soul
8 - Paper Tiger
9 - Someone Something
10 - They Never Got You
11 - I Summon You
12 - The Way We Get By
Download: Spoon - Live at the Greek

New To Me: Divine Fits & Field Report

Here are a couple new groups that came across my radar this week:

• Divine Fits is one of the latest indie rock supergroups to emerge on the scene.  Comprised of Spoon's Britt Daniel, Dan Boekner of Wolf Parade, and New Bomb Turks' Sam Brown, Divine Fits originated through the mutual admiration and friendship of Daniel and Boekner.  The recent hiatus of Wolf Parade provided an opening for a collaboration between the two.  The album definitely has a Spoon flavor to it, which is fine by me, but there's enough influence from it's other members to make Divine Fits stand on their own.  You can stream the album, 'A Thing Called Divine Fits' on NPR's First Listen up until it's release date on August 28th.  Check out the track "Would That Not Be Nice" below.

• Chris Porterfield is back with a new studio album under the name Field Report.  I was unfamiliar with his previous group, DeYarmond Edison, but do recall having heard something about his former bandmate Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.  Field Report represents a culmination of Porterfield's writing since that time.  Based on a few of the songs available on the band's website I'm eagerly awaiting the album's release in September.

Firefly Music Festival 2012

One week after Firefly I find myself caught up on sleep, hang-over free, and eagerly awaiting the 2013 return of Firefly.  The inaugural year for the festival held in Dover Delaware went off mostly without a hitch and garnered many positive to glowing reviews.  Overall I was really impressed with the way the festival was handled and run.  Hopefully some of the minor shortcomings, i.e.  uninformed volunteers/staff, no late night sets, sound issues on the main stage, will be resolved during the year. 

The best performance(s) I saw were The Killers and The Flaming Lips, hands down.  We waited for nearly 2 hours packed in like sardines to get as close as possible for The Killers set.  It was completely worth it though, ending up about 20 feet or so from the stage.  The Killers are just great performers with a knack for anthems fitting of the big stage.  I'd never seen The Flaming Lips but I had a pretty good idea what I was in for.  Their stage show was one of the best I've ever seen.  Confetti cannons, giant balloons, Wayne Coyne in his hamster ball (picture above) and giant foam hands, it was all there.  Their music is sometimes hit or miss with me but save for one or two songs I really enjoyed their set as well. 

I also caught great sets by John Legend, Heartless Bastards, The Head and the Heart, Polica, Ok Go (picture above) and got turned onto Penguin Prison and Walk The Moon.  Some other highlights of Firefly included the Dogfish Head beer tent with the new Firefly Ale, hot air balloon rides, the 'hammock hang-out' tucked back in the woods, and of course good times with great friends.

New To Me: Chairlift

How's this for a interesting back-story, before finding their place in the synth-pop world, the duo that makes up Chairlift were creating background music for haunted houses.  Fortunately for the music community the haunted house business apparently didn't take.  Their 2nd album "Something" came out earlier this year.