Every six months I do this. Here's the latest list of my favorites with video clips.
What's exciting is I just saw Jonsi last month and I'll be seeing the other four at Lollapalooza.
1 JONSI/SIGUR ROS
2 MATT & KIM
3 LADY GAGA
4 GOGOL BORDELLO
5 THE NATIONAL
Here's my last list, from November 2009.
Others earning consideration: Ke$ha, MGMT, The National, The Hold Steady, Crystal Castles
It's time for my every-six-months list of my favorite bands. My indie leanings have taken a turn toward the mainstream over the past few months, with dance and pop music moving much higher on my radar. Here's the current list.
1 MATT & KIM
Grand might be my favorite album of 2009. It's an entire record full of catchy indie pop. I never thought I'd see the day this duo won an MTV Video Music Award, but somehow they did it. Their reign has just begun.
Video: Lessons Learned
2 LADY GAGA
Until recently, I'd enjoyed Lady Gaga's dance hits but didn't see her as much more than another fly by night pop singer. But then I saw her artistic performance at the VMAs. I finally listened to the rest of her album, and it's great. Madonna recently said she saw herself in Lady Gaga, and I agree - she's likely to be a force for years to come. Her new video for "Bad Romance" is simply captivating.
Video: Bad Romance
3 COBRA STARSHIP
The sassy pop band finally hit the mainstream with "Good Girls Go Bad." The rest of their album Hot Mess is excellent as well, even if radio continues to ignore all of their music that doesn't feature Leighton Meester.
Video: Hot Mess
4 SIGUR ROS
Sigur Ros is still probably my favorite band, but when you haven't released any new material in over a year you start to fade a little. Singer Jonsi has a side project going called Jonsi & Alex, a mostly instrumental ethereal kind of thing that makes Sigur Ros seem accessible.
Video: Inní mér syngur vitleysingur
5 WEEZER
I bought the blue album not long after it came out, and my Weezer-fanhood has never wavered since, not when they released Maladroit, and not even with their new album Raditude, which features a collaboration with Lil Wayne. Their sound may change, but it's still good stuff.
Video: I Want You To
Others earning consideration: Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, Ghostland Observatory, MGMT
Everyone's favorite indie pop heroes Matt & Kim made their national TV debut last night with a spirited performance on the Jimmy Kimmel show.
They played "Daylight," the song that's rapidly breaking through to the mainstream. Just last week, Ashton Kutcher was furiously tweeting to find out what song was in that Bacardi commercial, so, beware, Matt & Kim, because once Ashton Kutcher starts singing the praises of something, it's hard for the rest of us to like it anymore.
Nonetheless, here's their performance.
Video: Matt & Kim - "Daylight" on Jimmy Kimmel
The Flaming Lips
CONCERT REVIEW: Pitchfork Music Festival
July 18-19, 2009
Union Park, Chicago
The Flaming Lips' raucous live show highlighted an entertaining 2009 Pitchfork Music Festival this weekend at Chicago's Union Park.
The Lips' Sunday evening set ended the event with a bang. There were the requisite giant balloons and confetti cannons, and singer Wayne Coyne walking through the crowd in a giant rubber ball.
Coyne says hello to the adoring crowd
The Lips were supposed to play the fans' most requested songs, but they took some liberties at times. Coyne would say, "That song was #66, but we know you wanted to hear it." They did play the top four requests - "Yoshimi," "She Don't use Jelly," "Fight Test," and "Do You Realize?"
On several occasions Coyne had to encourage the passive Pitchfork audience to get excited, and they obliged. The Lips played for only 75 minutes because of the city's 10 pm quiet ordinance, but that was long enough to deliver the weekend's most memorable performance.
Just before the Flaming Lips, Grizzly Bear delivered a satisfying set of some of their most exquisite songs, including "Two Weeks" and "Cheerleader." Forty-five minutes seems to be the perfect length for a Grizzly Bear performance, as their music requires a great deal of patience and anything longer would be pushing it.
Sunday's other excellent show came from the Japandroids, a manic garage rock two-piece from Vancouver. Many of their songs consisted of only a couple of lyrics repeated over and over, but their ferocious delivery was enough to captivate.
The Japandroids kick ass
The Mae Shi were a disappointment, delivering an unfocused performance that was at times bizarre. It took them 15 minutes to play something discernable as a song. Then later, they tossed a parachute into the audience, causing many to believe that some stage diving may be forthcoming. Instead, they did nothing at all with the parachute, and took it back from the crowd just minutes later. They did close on a high note with their best track, "Run to Your Grave."
MP3: The Mae Shi - Run To Your Grave (live @ Pitchfork 7-19-09)
[*This is coming as soon as mydatabus gets their shit together]
The Mae Shi sing about sleeping in your tomb
Elsewhere on Sunday, Pharoahe Monch brought hip hop to the hipsters, with "My Life" and "Desire" especially standing out due to his soulful background vocalists. Frightened Rabbit's acclaimed emotional rock came off as bland at first but the energy picked up as they went along. M83's dreamy electropop was the perfect late afternoon soundtrack, Blitzen Trapper weren't remotely interesting, and Vivian Girls provided proof that punk rock can indeed be boring.
Pharoahe Monch tries to fire up the crowd
Saturday's best performance was delivered courtesy of The Duchess & The Duke, a duo with an indie rock sound and folk sensibility. Their soothing harmonies were complemented nicely by a string section for "I Am Just a Ghost," which may have been the best individual song performance of the weekend.
Royalty in action - The Duchess & The Duke
Earnest and adorable, indie popsters Matt & Kim triumphed with a lightning-fast set of their sugar-sweet pop songs. Newer tracks "Good Ol' Fashioned Nightmare" and "Daylight" were received just as well as older favorites "Yea Yeah" and "5K."
You cannot help but love Matt & Kim!
Final Fantasy also delivered a standout performance. Owen Pallett performed by himself for most of the set, using violin and keyboard to record musical phrases and looping them over top of each other to build stunning crescendos.
A Final Fantasy masterpiece in progress
The much-anticipated performance by Fucked Up turned out to be a letdown, thanks to the freak show behavior of frontman Pink Eyes, who only bothered to sing about every third line. Whenever a beach ball came near he stopped singing so he could rip open the ball with his teeth. His sideshow act was entertaining for about five minutes, then ultimately became annoying as his band performed brilliantly behind him but he was more interested in making people laugh than in actually performing.
Fucked Up, in a rare moment where Pink Eyes was singing
Saturday headliners The National were rock-solid as usual, closing with a stellar "Mr. November." Black Lips offered some catchy rock choruses but weren't as entertaining. Yeasayer's combination of world and electronic music was tempting. High-energy rock band Ponytail didn't quite live up to all their hype, Norwegian DJ Lindstrom found his groove after a very sluggish start, and Bowerbirds' quiet songs didn't translate well to the festival environment.
Matt and Kim
CONCERT REVIEW: Matt and Kim
November 21, 2008
William Pitt Student Union, Pittsburgh
Seeing the last show of a tour is always an awesome thing. The band is inevitably fired up and goes the extra mile to end the tour on a high note. Last night was no exception, as Brooklyn indie pop superduo Matt & Kim played at the University of Pittsburgh on the final concert of their current road trip. (Personal aside: This was also a significant event for me - my 200th concert.)
"Usually when we play in the Pittsburgh area, we play to about 15 people, so this is amazing!" said Matt to a crowd that numbered more than 200, and from that point on the dance party was in full force. Kim was especially vigorous - "She's had 2 Red Bulls!" said Matt - and the duo played "Yea Yeah," "5K," and "Grand," to a mostly college-age crowd that actually knew most of the words.
As they neared the end of their set, Matt began asking Kim for other song suggestions that weren't on the set list, saying, "It's a Friday night, we don't want this party to end!" They played a few extra numbers, closing with "Silver Tiles," before roaming out into the crowd to dance with their fans for several minutes as the house music (Usher's "Love In This Club") came on. A memorable evening, indeed.
I looked forward to Lollapalooza last year for weeks in advance. I was most excited to see Brazilian dance pop band CSS. Finally, the moment arrived, and as I waited at their stage, I was confused... why is there only a drum kit and a keyboard onstage? Why are these two skinny kids sitting up there? Where the hell are CSS?
My sinking feeling was confirmed when it was announced that CSS had flight problems and couldn't make it. I was devastated. But not to worry, they told us, because you get to enjoy the humorous pop stylings of Matt & Kim instead!!
I wanted to punch both of them in the face.
They were actually quite personable and entertaining, and their music wasn't bad, but I wasn't really paying attention. I stood there numb, refusing to believe that CSS weren't going to come out.
I've hated Matt & Kim ever since.
It's irrational. And I'm finally over it. And now, with a clear conscience and honest enthusiasm, I can share some Matt & Kim songs. They're good kids after all.
MP3: Matt & Kim - No More Long Years (from Matt & Kim)
MP3: Matt & Kim - Yea Yeah (from To/From)
photo credit: Nick Chatfield-Taylor
