I’m falling behind and my inbox has exploded with new music promotions. I’ve been remiss, derelict in my duties, so this calls for a quick game of – Sounds Like …

This is “Night in the Ocean” by Young Magic:
Night In The Ocean by Carpark Records

Sounds like: Peaches and Herb on quaaludes in a time machine.

AM and Shaun Lee is duo of LA-based indie songwriter AM and the UK’s DJ Lee. They were recently signed to ESL and here they are covering the Ozark Mountain Boy’s classic, “Jackie Blue.”

AM & Shawn Lee – Jackie Blue by AMSOUNDS

Sounds Like: An ESL act covering a classic rock song, not unlike Thievery’s cover of The Doors.

Shark Vegas is an act that emerged on the retrospective, FAC Dance, a compilation of rarities from Manchester’s Factory Records. Factory was a legendary mod / new wave record company that put out legends like Joy Division, New Order and The Happy Mondays.

Shark Vegas- Pretenders Of Love (FAC. DANCE) by Strut

Sounds Like: The music that would play on a Karate Kid training montage if John Hughes directed it.

Gross Magic is another English band, but recently signed to American label, Fat Possum. “Sweetest Touch” is from their debut EP, Teen Jamz.

Gross Magic – Sweetest Touch by snipelondon

Sounds Like: A girl singing, but it’s not.

Cate Le Bon is Welsh indie singer / songwriter that even has a Welsh language album. She was good enough to catch the ear of St. Vincent who she is touring with now.

Cate Le Bon “Puts Me To Work” by Controlgroupco

Sounds Like: Unpretentious and honest pop rock music.

Wiseblood – “Nosferatu”

Wise Blood – Nosferatu by Dovecote Records

Sounds Like: Another one-man indie laptop band and despite my desire to hate these bands I like about 50% of them.

Mark Sultan is also known as BBQ of King Khan and BBQ Show fame. He is from Canadia. French Canadia.

Mark Sultan – “Song In Grey” by forcefieldpr

Sounds Like: what makes rock n’ roll good.

“Oblivion” by Grimes

Sounds Like: Tiffany’s version of “I Think We’re Alone Now”

Probably not. But “You and Whose Army” is an anthem to rally around the libertarian Texas Congressman. Newt Gingrich is an animal - a fucking pig. Newt made millions skimming off the bank engineered housing bubble that wrecked our economy.

Mit Romney probably fired your dad at some point. Romney earns 57k a day off investments. He’s used his power and influence to ensure he gets the lowest tax rate possible on those investments. The number 1 contributor to Obama’s campaign in 2008 and Romney’s present campaign is Goldman Sachs.

Sachs received the lion’s share  of the staggering TARP (nearly 800 billion dollars) funds followed by the incomprehensible secret donation from the Fed of nearly 14 trillion dollars (14 trillion!). This was “lent” at 0.01% interest to Goldman and other banks like Bank of America. These banks then turned around and used this nearly free money that will be paid on the backs of the US working class to buy US debt in the form of treasury bonds that earn 3% interest. This simple sleight-of-hand hoodwinked our country into an instant multi-billion dollar revenue for the banks at all of our expense. This tid-bit of information was only found through a partial audit (imagine what a full audit will reveal) of the Fed, which was spearheaded by Ron Paul long ago. They used this revenue to buy European debt and pay the record-high executive bonuses for 2010. Ex-Goldman board members and CEO’s now sit in positions of power at the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve, The European Central Bank, and as “appointed” prime ministers of Greece and Italy. Voting for any of these monsters (Newt, Santorum, Romney, Obama) only supports the bankers hostile takeover of the planet.

The money for these bailouts didn’t come from Uncle Sam’s savings account. It was printed by the Federal Reserve. It will need to be paid back. It is paid back in 2 forms: tax revenue collected from the citizens and inflation incurred by the citizens from an artificial influx of capital into the economy. This serves to destroy the buying power of the US dollar. The taxes put a heavy burden on the middle class. The inflation all but cripples the poor and further strains the evaporating middle class. So no matter how much we are taxed in order to provide money and aid to the poor and unfortunate it will never be enough because the dollar continues to weaken. This pushes us towards a new, global currency that will give the banking cartel an even stronger hold and a wider net.

Obama let this happen. He doesn’t address it. He continues to give eloquent speeches about nothing and refuses to confront the troubles we face head on. He entered Libya without congressional approval and he is continuing with the propaganda build up to war with Iran – similar to the Bush administration’s propaganda push into Iraq. We don’t have the money to fight this war. The only way we can get this money is by borrowing from China and printing money that again drives the burden back to American citizens. Obama signed the NDAA, which makes the Bush era Patriot Act seem like child’s play.

Bush, Cheney, Romney, Newt, Pelosi, Santorum – most politicians really – are all the same thing. It’s a smoke and mirrors game that gets the US citizens worked up about token left and right wing issues while the political machine works on its own agenda; pandering to the richest 0.37% of the country that is powerful enough to sway our government with lobbyists and cash. The banks and the military-industrial complex have railroaded our government away from the people as they slowly erode our freedoms and our sacred constitution in order to create a landscape that is suitable to them. Neo-cons buy into the militarism while “progressives” buy into the welfarism – all thinking that these politicians are going to bat for their beliefs. They are being duped into surrendering their money and lives to an ever-growing, corrupt and incestuous government that threatens us all.

The media, for the most part, is towing the staus quo line driving us to the “lesser of two evils vote” by playing up our red team vs blue team spirit and marginalizing a man of integrity and ideas (if Ron Paul’s ideas are crazy I have yet to hear better ideas, real solutions that people and politicians plan to use as opposed to focus-group talking points contrived simply to gain re-election) and focusing on vapid, senseless, disconnected, wealthy used car salesman that have the money to pay for their attention.

Ron Paul is the only guy running for more than just simply winning. He warned about all the issues we face right now for 30 years. Nearly everything Paul fought to stop threatens to destroy us at this moment and if we don’t listen, don’t act, don’t research, and continue to be informed by talking heads with an insidious agenda then we deserve what we get.

A vote for Ron Paul is a vote against tyranny. It’s a statement that says “I am informed and I know what you are up to.” It sends a message to the establishment that we all understand the country is broke and we will not police the world, build bloated bureaucracies, pander to the pharmaceutical companies, the oil conglomerates, banking cartels, and the military-industrial complex. It is a vote for personal liberty and responsibility and the removal of government from our day-to-day lives. It advocates pushing the federal government back to what is outlined in our constitution; providing sound money, protecting our country, and honoring our personal liberty. Voting for Ron Paul takes a swipe at the status quo and says we won’t stand for fabricated wars that destroy poor countries and strip what remaining dignity and respect we have with the citizens of the world. We don’t support police actions (not wars) that tear our American soldiers away from their families and uses them as cannon fodder to blow their faces off for nothing more than perpetuating a stream of money to the military-industrial complex.

Vote for the guy that has single-handedly changed the conversation in Washington. The guy that has his talking points continually co-opted by both the left and right. Vote for the guy that warned against the housing bubble in 2001 as well as our reckless spending and monetary crisis years before they blossomed. Vote for the man that understood that our overstretched military would bankrupt us and make us less safe. Vote for the guy that is routinely a guest on all news shows as an expert in monetary policy. When was the last time Pelosi, Obama, Newt, Mit, or any “leaders” were considered real experts on anything? Vote for the guy that has energized America’s college students and has them discussing foreign policy and monetary policy as opposed to vacuous and esoteric concepts like “hope.”

While the media, the candidates, and the incumbent are engaged in their incestuous circle-jerk and pandering to their audience one guy is straight droppin’ science – being honest, informative, and explaining the causes then offering solutions to the grave dangers on the horizon:

Never took the time to understand Paul’s foreign policy?

Ron Paul in a nutshell:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmnIz4gIFOU&list=FLW_4b8MUyJ9PdFGq6ZF3nKw&index

Both of these albums embodied Butch Vig’s relentless pursuit of perfection with Corgan’s relentless pursuit of rock glory. I fell in love with these records because they were so “BIG.” It always sounded like there was too much sound tearing through the stereo – like there was not enough speaker to handle the over-the-top, machine gun attack of Jimmy Chamberlin and the searing avalanche of Billy’s shoegaze meets 70’s rock wall of guitar. The remasters just work to emphasize a sound that is as groundbreaking today as it was 20 years ago with crystal clear reproduction.

The reissues are great, but the real pleasure is in the extras. Each album consists of three discs now: the album, a second disc of 18 mastered b-sides, unreleased demos and alternate takes, as well as a concert DVD. The Gish bonus disc contains a series of Gish-era recordings that may be familiar to longtime fans. The epic “Starla” and chunky “Plume” get the 2011 mix treatment while bedroom demos for “Daydream” (with Billy doing vocals instead of D’arcy) and the searing “Bury Me” see the light of day for the first time.

“Hippy Trippy” (”Crush” Box Demo) Previously unreleased

The DVD sees a Smashing Pumpkins that offered the perfect alt-rock antithesis to the Seattle sound. The Pumpkins provided something for metal heads that grew out of the hair bands of the 80’s, but weren’t completely smitten with 90’s grunge. They blended the dark romance of 80’s mod music like The Cure and The Smiths with big 70’s guitar rock like Zeppelin, Boston, and Sabbath. This pre-Gish concert at Chicago’s Metro has a longhaired Corgan and company waling at full volume with all the fire and innocence a band on the rise can deliver.

Siamese Dream disc 2 is a sublime mixture of rarities and fully mastered versions of underground favorites that had me simultaneously air-guitaring and weeping (much like I listened to them in my teens). It felt like a new Pumpkins album circa 1994. An unearthed electric, full band version of the song “Siamese Dream” and a remixed “Moleasskiss” along with the crunching demos of “Today” and “Hello Kitty Kat” reveal a thundering rock band that could crank out anthemic face melters with ease. Although both “Moleasskiss” and “Hello Kitty Kat” are available on an underground 5-disc set of lost Pumpkins’ songs called Mashed Potatoes, they are mixed to full album-worthy, speaker-thudding glory for disc 2.

The Siamese Dream concert DVD sees the Metro again, 2 years later, as Siamese Dream is released. The band now has swagger and is on a mission as the genre-fusing approaching went from description to the definition of the Smashing Pumpkins sound. Cocky and combative, Corgan bruises a packed audience with a ferocious set as the Billy / Jimmy alliance codifies its signature attack.

Read my review on Tampa’s music blog, Suburban Apologist

My Morning Jacket was voted Best Live Act of 2011 for a reason. They deliver tender folk-tinged rock, dreamy alt pop, and arena bombast with high energy and precision accuracy. MMJ has enough balls to experiment with their delivery by exploring their own music with thunderous improvisational jams and pulling randomly from an ever-growing catalog of powerful songs from night-to-night. Stamp this high octane mixture with the gripping and expansive vocals of an enigmatic yet engaging frontman and you got yourself a rock show. Last night at the Hard Rock Live in Orlando, FL was no exception.

The setlist was excellent despite lacking some of the deep cuts surfacing at other stops on this tour such as “Strangulation,” “The Bear,” “Cobra,” and “Heartbreakin’ Man” to name a few (We did get “Bermuda Highway” though).

Setlist:

1. Victory Dance
2. Circuital
3. It Beats 4 U
4. The Way That He Sings
5. I’m Amazed
6. Outta My System
7. Wonderful (The Way I Feel)
8. X-Mas Curtain
9. O Is the One That Is Real
10. Steam Engine
11. Movin Away
12. Golden
13. Holdin On To Black Metal
14. Smokin From Shootin
15. Touch Me I’m Going To Scream Pt. 2
16. Off the Record
17. Mahgeetah
18. Encore:
19. Bermuda Highway
20. Wordless Chorus
21. The Day Is Coming
22. Gideon
23. One Big Holiday

Buy Circuital Now!

MMJ from Red Rocks – 2011

MMJ from the Hangout Festival – 2011

MMJ at the St. Augustine Amphitheater – 2010

Lips' Videos didn't make the Top 10 but it's a great live shot

You can call this post a filler if you want – I do – but it is actually interesting to see which videos of the hundreds I’ve captured have the most views.

My videos are far from professionally shot. Most are done with a Canon Powershot from just about any vantage I could get. The video is meh, but the audio is actually pretty damn good because of the type of mic the Powershot has and where it is placed. The point is capture a moment from these concerts as a sort of keepsake.

And the Top 10 Most Viewed Videos Are …

#10:

Modest Mouse put on one hell of a show at the Hard Rock Live in June 2008. They were supporting We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank playing a good mix of new stuff with killer classics like “Paper Thin Walls,” “Custom Concern,” “Breakthrough,” and this song, “Trucker’s Atlas.”

VIEWS: 1,703

#9:

Tricephus, or Hank III, visits just about yearly to put on one of the coolest live spectacles on the planet. He starts with a set of country classics from his grandpa, Hank Willimas Sr. Next, he does a set of Psychobilly – a sort of roots country / hard rock / punk hybrid and ends the show with AssJack, a full-on hardcore / death metal shit show. This AssJack metal medley that includes Van Halen, Ministry, and Slayer comes in at number 9.

VIEWS: 1, 716

#8:

Thievery Corporation is known for their chill, eclectic, international sound, but they come at the audience full-force with a host of supporting musicians and performers in their live shows. This performance of “Sound the Alarm”- the first track on 2008’s Radio Retaliation – is from the 2008 VooDoo Music Fest in New Orleans.

VIEWS: 2,195

#7:

Phish took over Miami for New Year’s in 2009. Their loyal sandal-shaking fanbase will search out all media related to their shows. All the videos from New Year’s Eve got a lot of views, but “AC/DC Bag” blew them all away.

VIEWS: 2,359

#6:

Avi Buffalo is a band of pretty young kids that visited The Social several times thus far (with Rogue Wave and Blitzen Trapper). Their biggest and possibly best song, “What’s In It For?” is reflected in the amount of views here.

VIEWS: 2,411

#5:

LCD Soundsystem blew my mind with their show in October 2010 at Hard Rock Live. I was amazed at the raw power that this semi-electronic dance pop band brought. I’m glad to have the opportunity to interview Pat Mahoney and see James Murphy and the gang because it ended up being their last tour. They kicked the show off with “Dance Yrself Clean.” This is a video that sort of captures the essence of what I try to do. Although the angles aren’t pro-shot, the immersion in the audience translates the kinetic vibe of the show.

VIEWS: 4,908

#4:

The Tennessee 3 was Johnny Cash’s famous backing band. Orlando had the privilege of seeing these legendary musicians play a set for Anti*Pop 2007. I was hesitant because I thought without Cash’s infamous gravelly baritone it just wouldn’t work. Not true at all. Guitarist and long-time musical companion of Cash, Bob Wooten, had an uncanny vocal resemblance to The Man in Black himself. Truly Amazing. All of the video from that night was popular, but “I Was There / Luther Did the Boogie-Woogie” is way out in front of other classics caught that night like “I Walk the Line,” “Orange Blossom Special,” and “Ghostriders in the Sky.”

VIEWS: 5,762

#3:

Del tha Funkee Homosapien rocked The Social in January of 2010 with his unique flow. I also interviewed Del in 2009. His show at The Social was razor sharp as he dug through his prolific song book. He even did a version of “Clint Eastwood,” the Gorillaz song that brought him mainstream fame, but it was classic, rarely played “Mr. Dobalina” that brought all the hits.

VIEWS: 6,146

#2:

My Morning Jacket is one of the best live bands in existence right now. They are a band I will travel anywhere to see if I can. This video for “Victory Dance” was from their performance at the 2011 Hangout Fest. It was the opening track and the first time fans got to hear this song from Circuital which was not released at the time of the show. It’s a slow and creeping song that builds to a frenetic ending. Watch as the eager crowd goes berserk in the last 30 seconds as Jim James banshee cries wakes them up.

VIEWS: 7,544

#1:

This is crazy. I’m not sure how this happened (it was probably embedded on a much more popular site) but Surfer Blood and Pains of Being Pure at Heart did a show at Firestone in June of 2010. Surfer Blood ended by bringing PoBPaH back on stage to cover Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy.”

VIEWS: 9,414

The Pixies | Photo by Kelley Jackson http://www.lucy-pearl.com/

Something tells me the folks at Festival Republic have done this before. Every bit of the event was seamless. It was organized and well orchestrated but laid back. The website was killer and the mobile app was a great tool. Everything from the entry process to The Killers Friday VIP show at The Beacham Theater, picking up media credentials, entering the festival, and navigating the property to concessions, music schedule, and set changes were meticulously executed. Bathrooms were abundant and clean (a major feat for a rock festival), concessions and merch were plentiful and logically located, and there were even free water refill stations sponsored by Camel Pak where concertgoers could refill their water for free! Even the concessions seemed to be on a schedule; it felt like every 15-20 minutes a vendor selling Heineken products and water would appear in the crowd when you needed them most. The police presence was strong, but subdued. I thought a world-class festival would not work in Orlando because our large and overzealous police force would take the opportunity to set up driving checkpoints and festival entry anal probes that would scare most fans away.

The grounds were clean, well planned and easy to navigate which made jumping from stage to stage rather easy – never taking more than 5 minutes to get to the next band. A lot of this could be due to the low turnout, but there is no doubt that Festival Republic runs a tight ship and it would be a shame if they didn’t return because Orlando is full of late adopters.

FRIDAY

The Killers VIP show

The inaugural installment of what hopefully becomes a successful tradition in Orlando Calling started with a bang as The Killers played a warm-up VIP concert at The Beacham Theater. I wasn’t sure if this would be a true warm-up or an intimate setting to debut new music. It was neither. It was a festival size show shoehorned into a historic downtown Orlando club.

SATURDAY

Saturday was the alt / indie part of the festival as it seemed to be compartmentalized into Saturday indie, hip-hop (to some degree), and alternative with sprinkles of Top 40 and country and Sunday adult-contemporary, classic rock, and heavier doses of country.

Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas

This was the first band I caught and they were excellent. This Detroit-based rock/soul band energized the crowd with a fat sound that seemed to embody as much goth as it did soul with the pin-up look perfectly suited for the horn section and her giant voice.

Deep Dark Woods

I moved from Jessica Fernandez at one stage to another band I haven’t had the chance to hear in Deep Dark Woods. These guys were great and reminded me of a Fleet Foxes meets Band of Horses sound. Immediately I was impressed and reminded of another wonderful attribute of a good festival; being turned on to new music just by wandering around.

Gogol Bordello

I knew these guys could bring it. From large festivals to more intimate settings like NPR’s Tiny Desk series, Gogol Bordello can work a crowd with their eclectic gypsy punk. They were one of the brightest spots on Saturday.

Kid Cudi

I was really excited about this show. I adore Man on the Moon and realized this was Cudi’s first trip to Florida. He brought a live band to amp up his songs and it was great, but the awesome band just made me realize how much I loved Ratatat’s production.

Kid Cudi | Photo by Kelley Jackson - http://www.lucy-pearl.com/

The Avett Brothers

I just don’t get it. It just feels like a watered-down Dave Matthews frat version of a folk rock like Iron and Wine. I had a Slayer shirt on and as I exited the show an Avett fan yelled, “Awww where are you going?!” I could hear his friend reply, “Dude, Slayer.”

I missed two bands I was looking to see in Iron and Wine and Civil Twilight. There are always casualties in a festival that has a lot to offer.

The Pixies

There was no bigger casualty for me than Dr. Dog. I love their late Beatles-esque retro rock. This was one of the bands that got me psyched up to come out, but alas, they played the same time that The Pixies did. I went with The Pixies and was not let down as they played all of Doolittle and closed with “Gigantic.” No “Where is my Mind” though.

The Raconteurs

I decided to see part of The Raconteurs show before moving to see the Roots. Jack White and the dudes from The Greenhorns sounded better than ever, but some of the effect was lost on the vast emptiness of the Citrus Bowl. The Citrus Bowl is massive and the only people that ever sell that out are U2 and the Rolling Stones so trying to put a dent in the Citrus Bowl is a large feat.

The Roots

The Roots delivered the rousing festival performance I sought minus one glaring omission: No ?uestlove! It appears ongoing politics with The Roots and their drummer got in the way of a big performance.

The Killers

The Killers were set to close out day 1 and they did a great job in front of a cool projection screen. It’s just that the band’s current drawing power and the vastness of the Citrus Bowl made the show feel small, a major contrast to their Friday performance. The Killers would have been perfect as the last band before Radiohead or the Foo Fighters, bands that people from other states will travel to see.

SUNDAY

Following Saturday’s small-ish turnout I expected Sunday to be a bust, but there were actually more people turning out for Sunday’s line-up. Never under estimate central Florida’s desire to party hard around classic rock and country. There were moms and dads a-plenty cruising the grounds. They seemed to be spending more as the midway and food areas were far busier than the previous day. Leave it to Orlando hipsters to complain about Orlando’s inability to have something cool then ignore it when it happens only to be outshined by their parents rockin’ out to The Doob.

Los Lonely Boys

I saw Los Lonely boys wrap up their set to a packed tent. I never really got into them before but dug their Stevie Ray Vaughn-like take on music with a killer rhythm section and a flailing screeching guitar hero.

Have Gun Will Travel

Bradenton’s HGWT were also sounding sharp as I caught the tail end of their set. This is definitely a band I wanted to see in their entirety since the last performance I caught at Anti*Pop.

Robert Randolph & the Family Band

Sometimes the jam scene drives me nuts so I opted out of Warren Haynes to hit another jam mainstay in Robert Randolph. This guy can set a stage on fire with his furious slide guitar and today was no exception.

Bloody Jug Band

I took a detour to the Art House tent to catch BJB as their description depicted a macabre version of the 20’s jug bands. They were pretty cool as they played some originals and toyed with classics from Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard. Their mandolin player was a cut above the rest.

Buddy Guy

This dude is 75 years old and he can still shred guitar and work a crowd. Wrapping up the show with a crushing “Voodoo Chile” cover that had him playing the gee-tar with his teeth and his ass. Actually it was the second rousing “Voodoo Chile” on that stage that day with Robert Randolph tearing through one earlier.

The Mudflappers

This was another retro-influenced band at the Art House tent. These guys were great and had a Squirrel Nut Zipper-like attention to detail and a unique sound – one of my favorites from Sunday.

Thomas Wynn & The Believers

This guy just gets better and better and now he has a band to back up what he writes. In addition to Thomas on guitar and vocals, Olivia Wynn and her angelic and soulful backing vocals, and Chris Bell lighting the “Mississippi Saxophone” on fire, Thomas was joined by Shak Nasti’s shredder, Tim Turner and legendary Orlando musician Anthony Cole now on bass duty.

Chris Issac

I either missed or he didn’t play “Wicked Game” and “Somebody’s Cryin’.” I’m not embarrassed to admit I wear a Slayer shirt and love those songs. His A-list band did bust out some killer covers of Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis, Sam Cooke, Roy Orbison and more as Isaac worked the crowd with ease and worked his shimmering mirror ball suit as well.

***

I had to call it a night and missed Seger and Dwight Yoakam. I would see them both just because they are who they are and Dwight was god damn Doyle in Slingblade!

I would say everything but the attendance was a success. This was an impeccable festival experience, but lacked something to draw larger numbers. One problem was Bear Creek took away at least 3,000 people that would go to Orlando Calling just for a festival experience. Another issue was there was no monumental draw other than The Pixies to bring people from all over the southeast down to Orlando. Filling the Citrus Bowl is tough too. Glancing at the side stages, it seemed like any other festival, but seeing the Bowl filled to 1/3 capacity for headliners made it obvious that they did not get the numbers they wanted. I think when word gets out about how well this was run and that Orlando has better weather than just about anywhere else in the country in November that this could become the destination festival that it was intended to be. Throw in a shitty techno tent and 10,000 more people will come out. Please don’t give up on us Melvin Benn and Festival Republic!

There’s nothing like a stadium-ready band blowing the doors off a club at a private show to kick off a weekend of music. The inaugural installment of what hopefully becomes a successful tradition in Orlando Calling started with a bang as The Killers played a warm-up VIP concert at The Beacham Theater. I wasn’t sure if this would be a warm-up or an intimate setting to debut new music. It was neither. It was a festival size show shoehorned into a historic downtown Orlando club. Brandon Flowers and company tore through a greatest hits setlist that included every arena pop anthem they ever released. No need to list them because it was all of them including their cover of Joy Division’s “Shadowplay.”

Get more Orlando Calling coverage here and at Suburban Apologist

The set was so open in fact that it seemed like the set list was evolving as the band played.  The ferocious and brilliant Martyn Jacques, looking like a drunk Dickensian Gene Simmons would abandon intros and stomp off stage to grab sheet music in order to play a different song. He would survey his instruments (He moved from his trademark accordion to piano and guitar throughout the performance) in between songs as if to ask, “What do I feel like doing next?” and band member’s Adrian Huge (percussion) and Adrian Stout (bass, theremin, saw) would key in on Martyn, waiting for cues as to what came next. Martyn’s voice was another instrument; tackling his trademark shrill falsetto, his gravely, deep Tom Waites-like low-end and everything in between with ease.

The Adrians’ were astounding. Stout “walked the dog,” slapping at his upright bass like it owed him money, creating a smooth, chugging backbone for most songs. On other tunes he added eerie ambiance with the theremin or saw.

Huge is one of the wittiest and most inventive percussionists I’ve ever witnessed live. His sturdy frame added delicate rhythm and subtle melodic charm for the duration of the evening. He played a rag-tag kit that would make a hair metal drummer gasp and faint at its austerity. A bass drum from a child’s kit adorned with a rubber chicken was accompanied by a piccolo snare and tiny tom-tom. Accents were added with a disheveled rack of varied, tiny splash and china splash cymbals. He also had a tool kit that allowed him to add percussive genius with tambourines, triangles, woodblocks, squeak toys, and even play a song with nothing but a mirrored disco ball and a rhythm egg. The Adrians’ added that twisted cabaret / vaudeville charm with their antics, attire, backing vocals, and humorous banter.

The Tiger Lillies just wrapped up a Vienna residency performing their latest twisted and depraved tale in Georg Buchnor’s Woyzeck, and more recently Sinderella in Brooklyn earlier this month. As Jacques noted in our interview, he was excited to play a more wide-open set list and move away from the theatrical show pieces. The Lillies were all over the map and played songs from various points in their 22-year career. Their darkly humorous brand of macabre songwriting ranges in subject matter from death and vice to lunacy and love. They worked the crowd into frenzy with classics like “Banging in the Nails” (a song about the first-hand joys of crucifying Jesus), “Gin” (from The Gorey End, about a worldly soldier’s terminal addiction to drink), and “Bully Boys” (a bullied child’s violent revenge). They opened the floor to suggestions and among all the calls for a wide variety of songs they played “Piss on Your Grave” (a wildly awful story about killing just about every major figure in the bible then pissing on their grave) and ended the show with Hamsters after an audience member derailed their attempts to close with another song with her constant calls for “Hamsters!” To give you an idea about the song is about, the show ended with Huge comically tugging on Jacques ass as Stout made grinding sounds on his bass. Huge yanked hard to remove a giant hamster from Martyn’s ass. – pretty awesome.

Set to an astral backdrop of shimmering stars frontman, Anthony Gonzalez, greeted the near-capacity crowd in some sort of grotesque Fraggle Rock alien outfit and we went apeshit. M83 is loud, real loud. They blended new wave electronica, arena rock volume, shoegaze reverb, and a psychedelic light show for a punchy little 90-minute set that sounded like AIR meets New Order.

The band dipped into their latest release, the ambitious double disc Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming for tracks like “Reunion,” “Steve McQueen,” and the subtle but stirring “Wait.” The crowd soaked in every moment as M83 moved through classics like “Kim & Jessie,” “We Own the Sky,” and closing with the epic instrumental “Couleurs.”

I was actually pleased they didn’t play “Graveyard Girl” because it seems“tweeny.” As the show ended, the audience roared and Gonzalez removed his guitar to sacrifice it to the rock gods. My only contention there is that I’m pretty sure there is a hard rule somewhere in the books of rock ‘n roll that you cannot grind your axe into the monitors, hold it in the air then lean it against your amp as you exit the stage unless you’ve had at least two (minimum) face-melter solos. Other than that, they passed.

See the review on Tampa, Florida’s best music website, Suburban Apologist

M83 will amp up the 80’s prog-goth with a touch of shoegaze. Only 2 weeks in to their North American tour behind Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming the French band – more precisely Frenchman, Anthony Gonzalez – are getting rave reviews and drawing large crowds. Expect big sounds moving back and forth from wall-shuddering dance tunes to reverb-drenched alt rock and sometimes both seamlessly intertwined.

Buy Tickets!

“Midnight City” from M83’s latest album:

This video for “Wait” is sad and a little disconcerting which makes it pretty good:

M83 – Wait from Franck Deron on Vimeo.

Incredible debut song from Active Child, “I’m in your Church at Night”