Pics/Recap - Dum Dum Girls @ Blue Lamp 6/29/10

Dee Dee (vocals/guitar), Jules (guitar/vocals), Bambi (bass/vocals), and Sandy (who KILLED it on drums) make up the indie pop-punk band known as the Dum Dum Girls.

Though all the songs were written by Dee Dee in her living room on an acoustic guitar, the four-piece band were cohesive and quite frankly, rocked! There was all sorts of reverb, and beautifully executed harmonies...

They just recently set out on a brief West Coast tour with The Crocodiles and what I really liked to see were the girls bopping their heads in the front row during their tour-mates' set.

Check out the Rest of my Photos @ Paduta's Facebook.

Not to mention that it was extremely refreshing to see a band who were not only talented musicians but also really nice and down to earth.

And, since their debut album I Will Be (Sub Pop) is only about 30 minutes long, they were able to go through almost their entire catalog in their short but sweet set.

Watch "It Only Take One Night" LIVE via Off Air 

The Crocodiles were also amazing with all their distorted goodness and red floor lamps!

Last year I saw them as a two-piece, using prerecorded drums, bass, keyboards as back-up, but was surprised (in a good way) to see that they acquired 3 very new band members (one of them a very nice drummer who was working the merch booth before the show and said they have been touring with the Crocodiles for a little over a month). The result was a much fuller and enriched sound. 

They played tracks off their new Sleep Forever 7'' - which reminds me, be sure to head over to Fat Possum Records to listen and download the "Sleep Forever" single. I put it in my last post, but you should have a copy of your very own.

Let's not forget the hauntingly memorable performance by Sacramento's Chelsea Wolfe. I saw her walking around before her set and she was veil-less. So when she walked on stage with a black lace veil obscuring her features I couldn't help but make a note of it.

Make no mistake, you hear Wolfe's music and immediately think "goth" but once you see her live her chosen genre is really driven home with that veil.

What was wonderful about her set was that hearing her vocals live was almost better than her recordings. At one point, she actually backed around from the microphone cupped her hands around her mouth like she was about to holler and instead opened her song with her powerful and beautiful voice.

She'll definitely be someone to watch. Be sure to check out her new album The Grime and the Glow (Pendu Sound).

Next time....I post the first in a series

of interviews with some awesome local bands!

Dum Dum Girls & Crocodiles w/ Chelsea Wolfe @ the Blue Lamp

Abstract Entertainment is putting on another amazing show at Sacramento's Blue Lamp on Tuesday June 29 @ 8:30PM!

Just check out this line-up:

Chelsea Wolfe

This Sacramento local will start off the night most likely playing tracks off her newest release The Grime and the Glow on Pendu Sound. Not to mention, she also has an EP in the works entitled Ἀποκάλυψις, which means "apocalypse" in Greek.

Her sound has been described as "yearning wrapped in warm, classic analog" (The Deli, SF). It's goth, sure, but something more than that - folksy, experimental, and unexpected.

Click here to Order The Grime and the Glow.

Crocodiles

This photo taken the first time the Crocodiles came to the Blue Lamp and completely torn it up! 

Their debut album Summer of Hate was a gritty punk sensation and the talk of all the blogs in 2009. 

This year they are bringing with them a new 7'' called Sleep Forever (Fat Possum Records) which they say is more psychedelic and organic yet just as raw as the first.

Crocodiles - Sleep Forever by Paduta

Dum Dum Girls

Dee Dee, Jules, Bambi, and Sandy make up this Los Angeles band who are currently touring with the Crocodiles. 

Their short and fun debut album I Will Be was released on Sup Pop March of this year. Produced by Richard Gottehrer (who has also worked with Blondie and the Go-Go's) this record is indie pop with a touch of punk rock.

Click here to buy I Will Be. 

Next time . . . I post pics from this show,

Plus interviews with three great local bands!

The Bees Knees

Sacramento band Sea of Bees will be throwing a record release party at the Townhouse Lounge on Saturday June 19th with special guests John Vanderslice (formerly of Mk Ultra) and Doombird, and I'm going to be there as well!

Lead vocalist Julie Baenziger and band-mates James Neil, Sam Coe, Bryce Gonzales and John Baccigaluppi (the Hangar) have put together a truly memorable, heartfelt (at times gut-wrenchingly honest and beautiful) album entitled Songs for the Ravens which will be released on Crossbill Records.

Consequence of Sound has said of Baenziger that she "has a quality in her voice and her arrangements that suggests she has too much integrity to get covered in gloss. Wherever she ends up taking Sea of Bees, I suspect it will be worth following."

Recently the band did an interview and in-studio performance with Nick Brunner, host of local online indie radio show Off Air at Capital Public Radio. 

Baenziger discussed the tone of the album which I think can be wrapped up perfectly in two words: hopelessly romantic. While writing the songs she recalls feeling alone, and looking for love. Ultimately, she said the album ended up expressing that desire to be in a relationship.

Photo by Nick Brunner

Listen to the Full Off Air Episode featuring all SEVEN live in studio recordings (including my favorite "Wizbot"), and while you're at it, check out this video Nick took of Sea of Bees performing at Capital Public Radio on Monday.

If you like what you saw/heard, be sure to come out for their record release party on Saturday June 19th. All the necessary info is in the amazing flyer below!

Flyer by Asbestos Press

Next time...Meg tries to download 

a decent calendar widget for this blog o'hers!

Need a Bonnaroo Fix?

Me too...

Thanks to NPR Music's Live Webcast here are some of my favorite Bonnaroo performances thus far:

Dan Deacon

I've seen this guy before so I kind of guessed that he would put on an amazing show. He's probably one of the most joyful musicians around. Standing next to him, you can really feel how much he loves to make music! I mean just LOOK at him...

Photo taken by Me @ Luigi's Fungarden - not Bonnaroo 

The Dodos

@ Bonnaroo by Shantel Mitchell

The Flaming Lips ... duh!

Another great photo by Shantel Mitchell!

Neon Indian???

Pictures splattered the internet after Neon Indian's NSFW performance. Indie blogs like the Brooklyn Vegan and Hipster Runoff reported (FALSELY) that the young electro-pop-rock artist purposefully brought topless girls dressed as "Indians" onto the stage to dance during his show.
Like I said...FALSELY!

Soon after, Neon Indian via Twitter politely asked the blogs that made the false and hasty claim to retract their statements:

"@brooklynvegan @hipsterrunoff Can you guys please correct the posts where you claim I 'brought' or 'hired' topless girls on stage? Untrue"


He continues by adding that: "Theres a rolling stone vid where they clearly say they ran past security. I'd never dream of being that tacky."


From what I can tell, neither blogs have retracted/corrected their posts...NOW who's tacky???


You can watch Neon Indian's performance now on YouTube. 

Next time...I make it a personal goal to write 

more of these bloggie things!

Catching Up is Hard to Do!

Let's see if we can do this all tonight...Sasquatch Day Two: Old News is STILL News

Caribou is great!

"Sun" off their latest album Swim pretty much was one of the best highlights of the entire festival.

They were humble, excited to be there, and put on a flawless show filled with tons of energy and moving tunes!

tUnE-yArDs was charming and shockingly kick ass!

Singer/songwriter Merrill Garbus yodels, too!

Plus she records her instruments on loops, a la Jon Brion. While recording one, she picked up music from a nearby stage, saying that it "threw her for a loop" - a line she promised to use from then on.

Tegan and Sara are adorable - what I liked was how friendly they seemed. They draw the audience in, making each person feel like the concert is just for them.

Oh, and Tegan almost beat-boxed. Sara told her not to.

But she did take a cue from Kid Cudi and practiced her "call and response" skills...

When I say "Tegan" you say "Sara" ...

LCD Soundsystem exceeded my expectations. I may not know their prolific catalog by heart, but their music is great because it sounds so beautifully familiar, yet so distinctly unique.

Their fans however like to push...and crowd surf...seriously? People still crowd surf? And at LCD Soundsystem concerts?

Pavement!!!

It was Stephen Malkmus' birthday and we all sang to him (much to his chagrin).

They put on a pretty solid show, playing all of their best songs (they even started everything off with "Cut Your Hair"), and despite technical difficulties, and personality difficulties.

Now, I didn't see Pavement back in the day, and maybe Malkmus' classic "I don't care that I'm playing this guitar" (pictured to the right) mentality is a staple of the band's popularity and charm.

But, from where I was standing (up front!!!) he seemed to be characteristically apathetic.

Who cares though...it was freakin' Pavement!

Here's the Rest of the Pictures from Day Two!

Next time...I post my reactions to Day Three,

Sooner rather later (keeping my fingers crossed).

Sasquatch Day One Recap'd

Paduta's first business trip was a lot of fun and a total success. I met some great people, took a ton of pictures and witnessed some truly bizarre acts of randomness. Let's not forget the high caliber performances too:

Shabazz Palaces

Most groups/band/artists/musicians all seem to promote their projects the same way. They open up Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts, updating them constantly, writing about their tours/shows on their WordPress blog. But not Shabazz Palaces.

This Seattle-based rap duo let their music speak for itself. They have no social networking accounts only an official website which contains no bio.

Call them "crazy" but obviously their marketing philosophy is working because they were the opening act on the Main Stage Saturday May 29th.

They must be doing something right.

Their set up was simple, some traditional drums, a laptop, mixer, but what really stands out is how well organized, creative, and energetic they were.

The crowd loved them, and without posting over a 1000 tweets about the show, lots of people showed up and pushed to get as close as they could to the stage.

Most of them even knew the words, and sang along!

Brother Ali

Muslim, albino rapper Brother Ali was second up on the Main Stage on Saturday. 

He not only was an outstanding performer but a powerful speaker who truly moved the audience.

Ali spoke not just about fighting against the injustice of our biased gov't, but of loving oneself.

The Lonely Forest

This was a surprise addition to my line-up. I caught this Washington band at the Yeti Stage on my way to see Garfunkel and Oates (who ironically got a part on the hit Showtime series Weeds and couldn't make it to Sasquatch after all).

What I liked about these guys (and what would end up being all of the bands who played on this stage) was how humble and nice they were. They frequently thanked everyone for watching their show, and every now and then their lead singer John Van Deusen (that young lad in the red sweatshirt pictured on the left) had this expression of shock on his face - he later admitted to being absolutely terrified.

There music was decent - mellow, emotional pop rock, with simple at times repetitive lyrics. Perhaps not my favorite performance, but one of my favorite bands just based on their attitude and charm.

Patton Oswalt

Perhaps the best part of my day, seeing Patton Oswalt LIVE at the Rump Stage! 

Recently, Oswalt has found not one but TWO people who have blatantly plagiarized his jokes. First was the "stand up comic" who claimed that not only did he not steal from Oswalt, but that he wrote for him (yeah, right). And the second was the valedictorian of Columbia University. 

Oswalt began his set at the Rump Stage by simply stating, "Before I start, there is something I need to do," and he proceeded to tell the joke the Columbia graduate stole for his speech ("Physics for Poets").  

The crowd (presumably filled with Patton fans) erupted with not laughter (okay, some laughter), but a riotous round of applause. 

For the rest of his act, Oswalt told some of his classics ("Orgy" pictured left), but what struck me about his performance was his reactions to the music from the BIG Stage to our left. 

"Who the hell IS that?!?" he finally asked. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

He proceeded to use the music as back up to his act, dancing to the left and right of the stage - truly a comic who can commit to his surroundings and can make even his old material sound new and spontaneous.

Why?

The last show I saw Day One (and before you judge, I was sleepy from travel, and didn't have it in me to push through one more crowd) but it was entirely worth it.

After a lengthy set up and sound check (and upsetting most of the very drunk and probably very stoned crowd) Why? shut up the hecklers with the first chord of their first song.

The lead singer (and his awesome hat) charmed the crowd with his funky soulful vocals, and wacky dances across the stage. 

Check out the rest of the pictures I took during Day One!

Next time...Day Two of Sasquatch Recap,

and I catch up on some sleep (I hope).  

Outside Lands Announces Line Up (Finally)

Personally, I'd say overall the lineup is decent. I've never seen the Strokes, Phoenix, or Al Green. Plus, there are the Wild Beasts, Gogol Bordello, Cat Power, Mayer Hawthorne and the County, Chromeo and JANELLE MONAE to look forward to (<--- Monae will also be in Oakland with Erykah Badu on June 18th).


Not to mention this group who's song "Walking on a Dream" was stuck in my head for almost three months straight:

What I find interesting about Outside Lands is that its one of the only festivals that received such a backlash from followers - and this I think has something to do with the way they released hints about the possible performers:


"ranger dave won't be trespassing on this indian chief."
2:54 PM May 21st via web
"ranger dave is a friend of felines big and small."2:01 PM May 20th via web
"ranger dave is the reverend of love with single stem roses for the ladies."8:36 AM May 7th via web
"ranger dave loves his southern california punk rock from fullerton."6:12 PM May 6th via web
Facebook responses to these hints were especially rude, if not downright mean:
"so basically your going to tell the whole line up in code which really is not that hard to figure out instead of just telling us and saving everyone the hassle ?"
"can you just tell us the line up for screwing us over with tenacious d last year"
...or by far one of my favorites...
"Ranger Dave is effing my s up. I don't wanna play a lame ass game of clues. I call bullshit! Tell us the lineup already!"
I gotta say, I really hate it when someone "f's" my "s" up, but seriously people? It's a game! It's meant to be fun!
And you know what else? I'm pretty sure that Outside Lands is the first festival to have their feelings hurt:
"ranger dave is having a hard time pleasing everyone for outside lands. he has done is best."11:47 AM Jun 1st via web
Chill out everyone. You got your lineup, now let's all be happy that the Black Eyed Peas won't be returning this year for an encore performance!
Next Time...I post photos and tasty tidbits,from the Sasquatch Music Festival.