Sonic Ambulance
Lord Huron opening for Portugal. The Man at the Glass House in Pomona #localchella via Garrison
I go to a lot of concerts. We all do here at Sonic Ambulance.
However, with all the concerts we do go to, rarely do they get to the point of legends (Godspeed, WU LYF, The Throne, just to name a few). And with Radiohead and their infrequent touring schedules, you pray, and know, you are going to get an amazing show.
It has been almost four years now since the In Rainbows tour and we were beginning to wonder whether or not Radiohead would ever come stateside again — you know, with the whole environmentally friendly internet shows we have been getting over the years. But with the release of The King of Limbs, Thom Yorke and Co. are back, this time playing to the Bay Area at the HP Pavilion in San Jose.
It was a varied crowd at the show, with a few youngsters who probably weren’t even born when “Just” was hitting the airwaves, but you know a band is prolific when the older fans showup. Forty-plus-year-olds, singing their hearts out to classics they remember almost 20 years ago. And Radiohead unequivocally delivered.
Playing a hefty portion of KoL and classics, the band awed the audience, regardless of age (their’s or our’s).
Defining moments included a rocking rendition of “There There” as well as a personal favorite “Climbing up the Walls,” which led in epicly into “Karma Police.” The stage presence was awesome. Rotating screens, flashing lights, Thom Yorke’s maniacal dance moves all molded into a perfect show. So far, this has to be the best setlist of their current tour, even throwing out The Bends classic “Planet Telex” in the second encore, before closing with “Idioteque.” Overall, an unforgettable show, one that will linger until their next trip around the states.
I’m sure by now you’ve heard that the popular video website megaupload.com has been
taken down by the FBI. Wait a minute, what the hell were the FBI and the Department
of Justice doing in New Zealand?!!! Megaupload was becoming extremely popular at a
rapid pace with plans to take on the greedy music corporations and even Youtube. No
wonder they got shut down so fast by the US government.
The internet should remain free and uncensored. Governments should not intervene on
the behalf of corporate interests and at the expense of citizens. The music industry and
other media companies need to rethink their business models and intellectual property
rights laws. They need to adapt to new technologies instead of trying to get them shut
down. Laws like SOPA, PIPA and ACTA that are making their way to Congress are only
looking out for the rights of corporations. In the end, they are really just large companies
trying to squeeze every last dollar that they can out of their customers. They restrict what
is allowed on the internet and for the most part do not help ordinary citizens.
And so here is what you can do. Help out Anonymous by spreading the word about our
media boycott happening throughout the entire month of March. Basically, just don’t
buy any media in March. This includes books, CDs, digital albums, movies,
magazines, DVDs, Blu-rays, video games, vinyl, etc. Copy the Operation Black March poster
and post it around the web.
- Artist - The Weeknd
- Track - Next
- Album - Echoes of Silence
a quick edit. wu lyf at the troubadour
LYF - Such A Sad Puppy Dog - “cover” song (dont know the song name and seems like no else does either) - 14 Crowns for Me & Your Friends
*update
finally figured out the couver song thanks to KEXP
Papa M’s “Krusty”
who wants to see The Black Keys on tomorrow night?
Friday November 11
7:30pm
San Jose City College
2100 Moorpark Ave.
San Jose, CA 95128
Animals as Leaders - New Eden - Weightless
so far my favorite track from the new album
I first heard The Weeknd on Sonic Ambulance’s Summer Mixtape #2 from our contributor Brenda. “Glass Table Girls” from his debut House of Balloons mixtape got me to raise and eyebrow, but it was his Thursday mixtape is what got me hooked. Whats there not to like? Everything I want out of R&B was in those 9 tracks. Some of the best free music available this year, so if you’re an audiophile you’ll definitely appreciate the quality of post-production. In my opinion far more better, creative, and fresher than his R&B contemporaries Frank Ocean, Ne-Yo, Trey Songz. Hypnotizing you with the depth of the beats that turn into a tragic eerie feel, and lyrics and paint a surreal picture thats dark like Lynch film. And earlier today The Weeknd posted the track Initiation for the highly anticipated finale Echoes of Silence which will wrap up the mixtape trilogy. In the last couple of weeks The Weeknd has been remixing Florence + the Machine and Lady Gaga, now we’re definitely looking forward to new original music and hoping he comes to Northern California sometime soon. You can find a lot of his music on his youtube, or just on his site; http://the-weeknd.com/ for free download.
Circa Survive live at Rio Theatre
Santa Cruz, CA 10/5/11 more videos on youtube.com/sonicambulancetv
States covering Crazy by Gnarls Barkley
Rio Theatre, Santa Cruz, CA October 5, 2011
States opening for Maps & Atlases, Circa Survive fall tour 2011
Santa Cruz, CA Rio Theatre
This is “A Real Hero” by College (feat. Sonic Youth) from the soundtrack for Drive.
As ridiculous as this song is in the context of Drive - it plays whenever Ryan Gosling is doing a good thing, so you hear a chorus of people singing “…a real hero..” when he does something heroic (really) - I’m seriously digging this song. The chord in the background gives it a nice beat that really drives the song, while the lyrics give it a poppy, upbeat feeling.
got some sad news for you buddy. it features Electric Youth, not Sonic Youth. sucks i know. don’t kill the messenger.
There’s something about Feist that is just different than other female vocalists inhabiting the GaGa-Adele-pop landscape.
It’s not the songwriting or the guitar playing. It’s a sense of realness; a visceral feeling deep down somewhere, anywhere, that what you’re listening to is a real person — not an act created by a record label, but one that could be playing in a local coffee shop and still have the same grand impact. For a singer with a heavenly voice, Feist brings it all down to earth with her new album Metals.
After a globe-spanning tour in support of 2007’s The Reminder, Feist took plenty of time off, a year in fact, just to disconnect from her surprise run-in with success. Although “1234” was the lone song on The Reminder that she did not write herself, the fame that comes with being featured in an iPod commercial does resonate. Her next move, however, was to disconnect from the world.
What better place to run away and record a career-defining record than Big Sur, Calif.
With Metals, Feist hits all the right notes. From the serene and beautiful “Caught a Long Wind,” to the snappy lead single “How Come You Never Go There,” to the pure pop ecstasy of “The Circle Married the Line,” Feist leads the listeners through 12 powerful songs filled with passion and soul. And she doesn’t neglect to throw in some surprises along the way. Album opener “The Bad in Each Other” introduces a male backing harmony — a departure from her previous records that expressly focus on her pristine vocals — while the explosive shouts in “The Commotion” certainly catch listeners off guard.
However, when Metals is at its best is on the second or third listen through. It’s then that a relationship develops between the music and the listener. And what emerges is a feeling that that echo in your ears is something bigger and firmer than an aged redwood. Something you can hold onto and never want to let go. Something real.
Five out of Five
For a couple of days now I’ve been begging my friend, morning noon and night for his thoughts on the new Thrice record. Seven albums into their career, they still keep evolving, improving and making sure rock ‘n roll is delivered to the people consistently, whether it’s live with their incessant touring or their vinyl releases. I don’t know if I’m being impulsive by declaring this as my favorite album from the band so far, but I definitely don’t want to downplay the balance of quality in the music and the rich lyrics. My buddy is going to catch them before I do on the East Coast so we’re always catching the same tours and comparing experiences. They’re playing in San Francisco November 5 at the Regency Ballroom, and the 6th in Sacramento at the Ace of Spades. Definitely going to make my birthday weekend one to remember. Well my friend delivered and I got way more than what I had expected, so I have to share. Jacob Gemmell is a musician around the D.C. area. Everyone go bug him about not releasing his new music. https://www.facebook.com/jacobgemmell
I have built up a lot of hope for this album, considering that Beggars is one of the few rock albums that i can listen to on repeat and never get tired of it. Reading up that the album was recorded in Red Bull Studios, the faith in this album perhaps grew even more (considering the equipment used in the recordings were better mics, preamps, treated rooms, massive HD console) and not to mention engineer/producer Dave Schiffman (Mars Volta, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc.).
The week prior to Major/Minor, I really couldn’t wait. I was hunting around on the internet for bits and pieces, perhaps acoustic versions of what was yet to come. I finally found out that Thrice was releasing a stream of a song a day on a soundcloud widget on their website. After this discovery I quickly put my tasks aside and pulled out my akg k240s and loaded that stream.
This was not my first time hearing “Yellow Belly,” but for some reason it hit stronger this time. I had the volume moderately loud pumping through my headphones, but the choices in parts & lyrics were really what were speaking to me at the time. “You were built for blessing but you only make them bleed, but you don’t care, you don’t care.” On the Guitar Center Session/Interview Dustin Kensrue mentions that this song is about a man’s slip ups, perhaps giving into anger, or just treating someone horribly for some reason. The riff and beat are melodically feeding off of each other; complimenting each other, and the bassline gives a good solid backbone to the song.
For the most part I need to get to know the rest of this record a little more. It has a bit less timing manipulation and it’s more of a big nasty rock album. One of the things that separates great musicians from good musicians is their ability to not just play insane riffs or scales, but the ability to know when to sit back and just let the song speak for itself. I find this many bands/artist’s/producers struggle.
With Thrice you cannot compare them album to album. Each one is so different and they truly reinvent themselves every time. This to me shows authenticity and growth. Think in terms of your own musical tastes: has it remained the same for the past 10 years? Or do you change it up depending on the season or where your at in life?”
