Jeff the Brotherhood played the Great Scott in Allston last night. I was a last minute attendee and mostly relying on my friends recommendation. I had heard a couple Jeff the Brotherhood songs, but not enough to really know them. After the first two acts, who were terrible, I had pretty low hopes for the show. Thankfully I was in store for one of the best shows of the year so far.
Mainey Wilson is a new project from Elizabeth Jeanette and Ike Owens, of Mars Volta/Free Moral Agent fame. The project has a distinctly soulful psychedelic sound that is automatically recognizable. This is the sound of two friends having fun and creating powerful music. Below they discuss the inspiration of the EP and what the future has in store for Mainey Wilson.
On to night two of Scarlett Fever. While I was disappointed by the lack of turn out for night one, I was expecting even worse for night two. Seemed like most of my friends had no idea that RJD2 was coming and even fewer cared. I worried that no one would be there and he would be spinning for 50 people. Thankfully I was wrong. Unlike at Big Boi the audience and venue corresponded for RJD2. There was probably an equivalent number for both shows, but the size of the venue decreased significantly. It was the perfect setting for the show.
Rjd2 was a consummate professional. He knew what the kids wanted to hear and what was needed to make that happen. His style of dusty soul and hip hop mixed with electronic is endlessly playable. The type of dj that everyone will be okay seeing. He is not as experimental as a Flying Lotus as hip hop or as ?uestlove or as electronic as Elliott lipp but appeals to fans of all three. He knew exactly when to throw out one of his hits, preventing the show from becoming too slow or two abstract. Watching the crowd go nuts to "Ghost Writer" or "Smoke and Mirrors" was pretty spectacular. Really one of the best DJ performances I have seen in a long time.
I know I am totally late to the party on this, but Noise Verse Noise favorite Unouomedude has a new digital 7'' that must be checked. You can get it here.
Last night Big Boi, one half of Outkast, performed at House of Blues for BU Scarlett Fever Spring concert. I heard there were 1200 tickets available and they sold 400, and from the look of the crowd about 300 showed up. This is unfortunate, but not unexpected. Most of my friends didn't know the show was happening and House of Blues pretty well sucks. The security guards are jerks, they monitor you like hawks, and the beer is obscenely expensive even for PBR. Whatever, its Scarlett Fever, its Big Boi, I am going.
With all this out of the way, the actual performance was fantastic. Big Boi was energetic and fun. He performed all his hits without much ego. He played a half dozen outkast songs, half dozen originals, and finished the show off with Kryptonite. His DJ put up a premade tape for his show, which had Big Boi's video part for most of the songs. I had forgotten how funky and colorful old Outkast videos were. Blackowned C-Bone, Big Boi's hypeman, was funny and very energetic. Really you could not ask for more from Big Boi, you could have asked for a lot more from the BU students and HoB considering how fantastic the show was. More photos after the jump!
Millionyoung is ambient surf project of Mike Diaz. I have no idea if that is how he would actually describe his music, but I think that is a great description. His songs recall the beach, the warmth of summer, and good times. His new album, Replicants, is out now and he is on tour. Check out the interview below!
I am stuck in JFK right now so I figured I would put up some tunes. Not sure if there is a theme to this other than something that someone might at somepoint consider R & B. I haven't listened to these tunes a ton, but I just downloaded Frank Ocean and The Weeknd new mixtapes.
Great hip hop from around the country that is going on that next level stuff. Most of these guys are from LA and work with the Alphapup crew. Saw NoCanDo with Daddy Kev a year ago(picture above and photo behind blog title), didn't know who he was at the start of the show, definitely knew who he was by the end of it. Giovanni Marks and Busdriver you probably know from the Island song, but their albums are awe inspiring. Doomtree is from Minneapolis, so of course they are on Rhymesayers.
More new tunes. I just discovered Acid Flashback thanks to Dublab. Shigeto has been a favorite of mine for a while. He is a great beatsmith. Belong are from New Orleans and release ambient records on Kranky. I highly recommend checking out Belong's newest record.
Alex Winston is a new musician coming out of Michigan. Her song "Locomotive" is/was the number one video viewed on Pitchfork for a couple days. The Locomotive video is a hazy, sort of 80's video(watch below). On here debut album, her music comes of as vaguely electronic/blown out sound. Only vaguely though, I am having trouble coming up with the correct description for it. Live however, it is straight girl group-eque rocking goodness. While I did not totally love the album, I found the live show to be absolutely fantastic. Her band was tight, the back up singers harmonies were on point, and Winston was a total showman. Winston walked all over the stage and jumped into the crowd to dance with the audience. She should definitely be seen live, that is where the songs really come alive. You will find "Sister Wife" and "Locomotive" stuck in your head hours after the show. She played a new song or two, that were instantly able to be sung along too. I really can not say enough about her live show. I look forward to seeing her again and hearing more music from here. Check out more after the jump
Unouomedude is a one man band from Jacksonville creating hazy lo-fi indie pop that works perfectly for the spring days. The tunes have a great feeling nostalgia without ever losing forward momentum or becoming overly sentimental. Unouomedude is definitely one of my favorite new discovery's and I eagerly await new music from him. Check out the interview below:
Tonight at Brighton Music Hall is Dirty Beaches, Minks, and Dum Dum Girls. I am gonna try to attend. Here are songs by each artist until then. I will post a review and photos here.
