Rodrigo y Gabriela @ Fox Theater

I also had the chance to see Rodrigo y Gabriela earlier this week, as well (thanks for the hook up, CW!). Check out my review and some pics on the CW Website, or read below:

(From CWBayArea Website)

Rodrigo y Gabriela @ Fox Theater 9/23/09

On Wednesday night, the acoustic folk-metal duo Rodrigo y Gabriela laid down a fierce assault of rapid-fire guitar work on the sold out crowd at Oakland's Fox Theater. The Dublin-based, Mexican-born pair are touring in support of their latest album 11:11, incorporating many of their new songs into the set list.

Witnessing a performance by Rodrigo y Gabriela is practically indescribable. It's like being swallowed up in a chaotic hurricane, getting chewed up and spit back out in a daze of astonishment, wondering what just happened. Their show had all the raucousness of a metal concert, minus the annoying mosh pits, but with strobe lights, headbanging, and devil horns aplenty. The duo's love for thrash metal is obvious. Towards the middle of their set, Gabriela gave a speech on how their recent effort was a tribute to the metal gods who have inspired them, mentioning the fallen Dimebag Darrell in particular, to which the crowd gave a thunderous round of applause.

For most of the show, the two were hunched-over in stance, with their noses close to their guitars, demonstrating a great amount of skill and command over their instruments. The two also had no trouble establishing a sense of authority over the crowd. With the raising of his arms, Rodrigo riled up the congregation, getting them to clap, jump and chant "hey," as Gabriela did her part. They were our domineering guitar-masters, and we were their submissive slaves, bowing down and obeying their every whim.

The chemistry between the duo is evermore transparent on-stage, as the two play off each other in fluid fashion. Gabriela emanates a graceful presence, but unleashes her inner-beast through an attack of percussion on the body of her guitar, thumping and beating in intense spasms of palm-slaps. On the other side, you have Rodrigo, known for his audaciously powerful solos, but who is at the same time flirtatious, teasing the eager audience with little snippets here and there, infusing the likes of Rage Against the Machine and The White Stripes into a musical medley.

As a first-timer, my mouth was left open after the experience, thoroughly blown away by what had transpired. In the end, the duo received a standing ovation. An epic end to an epic show.

A snippet of RodyGab from the show:

One Eskimo @ Hotel Utah

Hello everyone. I had the chance to attend a One Eskimo show at Hotel Utah earlier this week (c/o CW). You could catch my review and some pics of the show up on the CW Website. Or you can also read below:

(From CWBayArea Website)

One Eskimo @ Hotel Utah

One Eskimo, a four-piece indie band from the UK, take a uniquely fun and imaginative approach to their music. Using animation to extend the reach of their songs, the quartet have released a series of videos about a darling little Eskimo and his adorable animal friends with the band's lightheartedly poignant tunes serving as the background. The result is no less than magical. Last night, I got the chance to see the blokes behind this charming creation, and even without any extra visuals, their semi-acoustic performance was fantastically delightful.

Hotel Utah's quaint atmosphere proved to be the perfect venue to showcase the intimate nature of the group's melancholy, laid-back music. Vocalist Kristian Leontiou was spot on, hitting his notes with precision and exuding a powerful range of emotion. With eyes closed and not knowing any better, I would've sworn that I was listening to the tracks straight from the album. That's how great One Eskimo's live show was - getting every little detail down, from the rich toots of the flugelhorn to the tinkling synth/electronic elements. With minimal interruptions, the coy, yet charismatic British lads, seamlessly went from one song into the next, creating a wonderful musical excursion.

One Eskimo's debut full-length "All Balloons" was released the same day, September 22. Make sure to pick up your copy soon!

http://www.myspace.com/oneeskimo

Album available now on iTunes: Deluxe & Standard

One Eskimo playing "Astronauts"

New Moon Tracklisting

Today, Stephanie Meyer announced on her website all of the bands that will be included on the New Moon Soundtrack.

Tracklisting from website:
* DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE — MEET ME ON THE EQUINOX
* BAND OF SKULLS — FRIENDS
* THOM YORKE — HEARING DAMAGE
* LYKKE LI — POSSIBILITY
* THE KILLERS — A WHITE DEMON LOVE SONG
* ANYA MARINA — SATELLITE HEART
* MUSE — I BELONG TO YOU (NEW MOON REMIX)
* BON IVER & ST. VINCENT — ROSYLN
* BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB — DONE ALL WRONG
* HURRICANE BELLS — MONSTERS
* SEA WOLF — THE VIOLET HOUR
* OK GO — SHOOTING THE MOON
* GRIZZLY BEAR — SLOW LIFE
* EDITORS — NO SOUND BUT THE WIND
* ALEXANDRE DESPLAT — NEW MOON (THE MEADOW)

The line-up looks phenomenal. I mean Death Cab, Thom York, The Killers, Muse, Grizzly Bear, Bon Iver all in one album!! Can't get any better than that. I'm definitely picking this up, as should you! You can pre-order your copy on amazon.com.

CW Blog

For those of you who don't know, I'm interning for the television station CW Bay Area. I am now their official Blogger! Yeah-yuh!

Check it out: CW Blog

But don't worry peepz, I'll be sure to continue updating this blog, too!

Meet Me on the Equinox

Death Cab for Cutie + Twilight= Best. combo. ever.

If you haven't already checked it out, here's Death Cab's 'New Moon' Single. It's funny because Ben Gibbard didn't even read the whole series, yet the song encompasses the tone of the books so well! Oh Ben, you are a genius.

MTV Shows

He's Like the Wind

R.I.P. Patrick Swayze

Kanye West is a Gay Fish....and a Big Meanie!

By now, I'm sure you've all heard about Kanye West's on-stage crash at the VMA's. If you haven't, then you better get out of that rock you've been hiding under! Or you can check it out below:

MTV Shows

Sure, Taylor Swift's crappy music video didn't deserve the award, but really Kanye....really... that was uncalled for. Reeeaaal classy.

But the question is, staged or not staged?

If you'll remember a little incident at that recent MTV Movie awards with Eminem and Bruno, we all know how that ended up. I mean, is there anybody who cares about the VMA's, or even MTV, anymore? It wouldn't be surprising if MTV was behind this in order to boost ratings and grab headlines. I wouldn't put it past them.

Or it could've been very well real. Kanye does have quite the ego. I'm also sure he was itchin to find something to rant about. It was only a matter of time.

In either case, pretty pathetic move on either Kanye and/or MTV. If it's publicity that they wanted, well it's what they got! That's for sure!

Yeah Yeah Yeah's Setlist @ Fox Theater, 9/9/09

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending my very first Yeah Yeah Yeah's show at the Fox Theater in Oakland. Needless to say, I was blown away. Karen O is amazing. Anyway, here's the setlist...

Yeah Yeah Yeah's Setlist:
Runaway
Phenomenon
Man
Dull Life
Gold Lion
Heads Will Roll
Pin
Miles Away
Skeleton
Hysteric
Soft Shock
Honeybear
Zero

encore:
Cheated Hearts
Maps
Date With Night
Y Control

Review (and possibly pics) to come sooon...

Dead Man's Bones

Did you know that Ryan Gosling had a band? I sure didn't. So, you can imagine my surprise as I found out about Dead Man's Bones.

I guess we're always hesitant with these things because actors dabbling into music doesn't tend to translate so well (here's looking at you, Keanu Reeves). Then again, there are many in the thespian arena who were quite successful with that...I know I was one of the many who dug Zooey Deschannel's lovely venture into She & Him.

Dead Man's Bones is like nothing you would've expected from The Notebook hottie. Together with fellow actor friend Zach Shields, Goslin creates a hauntingly endearing sound using a massive children's choir and a plethora of various of instruments--many of which they don't know how to play. Their music is spooky, but charming; chilling, but warm...think Disney's Haunted Mansion.

Their tunes are definitely intriguing and worth a listen. They've been compared to the likes of Arcade Fire or Bryan Ferry, but I guess you can be the judge of that. You can check out a couple of their songs up on their Myspace.

The duo plan to release their debut album on October 6. That's definitely one that I'll be anticipating.

Jason Vena Returns??

I've been listening to a lot of Acceptance lately. Heck, I dedicated a whole blog post to them not too long ago.

So, you could imagine my excitement as I read this post on absolutepunk.net. Now, the only evidence we have is this twitter post. Who is this person? And how do we know if it's real or fake?

Anyway, it would be awesome if this indeed were true. Even if this isn't necessarily an Acceptance reunion, it would great to have Jason Vena laying down some new music. His beautiful pipes are just way too good to go to waste not making music.

I will leave you with this, one of my favs off Phantoms.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Paramore can "Use Somebody"

I guess I tend to post a lot about Paramore. What can I say, they're just plain awesome! Hayley has such an amazing voice, especially when it comes to singing acoustically. Here's Paramore covering King of Leon's "Use Somebody":

SoCo Reunion!?!???

So, I was perusing around absolutepunk.net as I usually do, and happened to stumble upon this scrumptious tidbit. In an interview with Alter the Press, Andrew McMahon discussed the possibility of a Something Corporate Reunion. How awesome would that be!!?!!!

From the Article:

AM: It's something we are talking about. It'll probably be something we put our toe in the water for in the US and see how it goes. I've been talking to the guys and trying to find that right moment. We're sort of coming up to our 10 year anniversary, of when we put out our first set of demos, playing professionally and I know we don't want to miss that for our fans, and for us. We are still really close friends, I think we are just trying to sort out our schedules, but it's definitely possible and something that is in the works.

Let's keep our fingers crossed. =X

Hova digs the Grizzly!

So, apparently Jay-Z attended a Grizzly Bear concert this past Sunday, which is pretty cool. Here's the MTV Article which elaborates upon that venture. No word on a collabo, yet, but wouldn't that be great?

While we're on the topic of Grizzly Bear and collabos, check out this collabo feat. Michael McDonald...good stuff... haha.