Maybe I've been living under a rock and you've known it all along, but
is electronic music having a new renaissance? What I'm talking about
extends beyond just the realm of the recording to the live concert
experience. Not only has it been a ridiculously good year for releases,
but it's been an unparalleled year (in my memory, at least) for the
sheer number of electronic tours to come across our doorsteps.
Take these videos and photos of the best live shows I saw this year as cases in point.
1: Daft Punk
Keyspan Park, Coney Island, NY
One of the Top 3 shows I've ever seen. Photos | Video
6: Simian Mobile Disco
KEXP Live Broadcast from CMJ, Gibson Showroom, NY Photos | Videos
7: LCD Soundsystem
Randall's Island, NY Photos | Videos
8: UNKLE
Webster Hall CMJ Showcase, NY Photos | Videos
9: Teddybears
Hiro Ballroom, Maritime Hotel, NY Photos | Videos
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Runners-Up:
I'd
like to call out Brazilian Girls, CSS and Klaxons as among the top
Dance shows, as well. All of them at Coachella, btw. But alas, I think
it's appropriate to set the limit of requiring some portion of the
music to be performed by DJs in order to be considered true "electronic
music." So there you have it.
Brazilian Girls | CSS | Klaxons Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2007, Indio, CA
The Good, The Bad & The Queen | Peter Bjorn & John | The Arcade Fire | Rufus Wainwright | The Decemberists Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2007, Indio, CA
2007 Year In Review: Best Live Music | Best Coachella Catch | Best CMJ Ticket | Best Crowd Best CMJ Ticket: KEXP Seattle In-Studio Live Broadcasts from CMJ Music Marathon Featuring
live performances broadcast from the Gibson Showroom, NY
Why didn't
everybody do this? It made KEXP the only terrestrial radio station on
my radar right now. (Sorry, FNX, it's been a while.) It was the ability
to sit right in the room with the artists that made these shows THE
guest list to be on. The interviews and between-tune banter made the
Band of Horses broadcast one of the most memorable of my CMJ
experience. But as for incredible performances, watching cross-legged
on the studio floor while Simian Mobile Disco did their animated
knob-twiddling was one of my
most favorite live "show" memories of the
year altogether.
2007 Year In Review: Best Live Music | Best Coachella Catch | Best CMJ Ticket | Best Crowd Best Crowd: Keyspan Park, Coney Island for Daft Punk Daft
Punk wins, hands down. But the fever that spread through Terminal 5
when the Daft Punk discoveries, Justice, nearly tore the roof off the
m*otherf*cker led to an unbelievable display of wild abandon. Bacchus
would have been proud.
The crowd for Daft Punk @ Coney Island, NY
1: Daft Punk, Keyspan Park at Coney Island, NY Photos | Video 2: Justice, Terminal 5, NY Photos 3: Gogol Bordello, Irving Plaza, NY Photos | Video 4: Rufus Wainwright, Central Park Summerstage, NY Photos | Video 5: Paul Van Dyke, Central Park Summerstage, NY Photos | Video 6: Les Savy Fav, Randall's Island, NY Photos | Video 7: Cypress Hill, Rock the Bells at Randall's Island, NY Photos | Video 8: Balkan Beat Box, Bowery Ballroom, NY Photos | Video 9: Justin Timberlake, Madison Square Garden, NY Photos | Video
Finally! (*gush*) After nearly a decade of near misses attempting to
see my beloved band and cursing Murphy's Law run amok, I have at last
witnessed the Unlimited Sunshine that is a Cake concert. Yay!
Forgive my giggling girlitude about the matter, but there's just
something so uplifting and happy-making about Cake.
How do they
invariably manage to make me feel so good? Maybe it's their quirky,
winking lyrics. (I offer up "Satan is my motor, feel my motor purr," as
evidence.) Maybe it's their Mexicali funk-tinged alt-pop, that sounded so
different from anything else the 90s pumped out. Possibly it's that
unmistakable rockabilly guitar with its ballsy, low end fullness that
anchors the lightheartedness. Very likely it's that signature trumpet
that makes every Cake tune immediately identifiable. Most definitely
it's the "aw yeah, aw no, alright" that punctuates nearly every tune.
I can't get enough of those. I find myself 'aw yeah, aw no,
alright'ing for days after listening to Cake, and it never ceases to
make me smile.
The
one thing missing from my adoration was the ability to say, "Aw yeah,
I've seen 'em live." And now I can gladly say that Cake live up to all
my expectations live. No wonder they've dubbed their annual trek the
Unlimited Sunshine Tour. They spin sunlight. Sample some of these live
moments, and let the sun shine in on your long winter's nap.
This
year's trek celebrates the release of their new album, "B-Sides and
Rarities." Anyone who had one of those, "Is that... could it be..."
moments hearing the opening notes to Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" would
be well advised to pick up a copy of the new disc. (See what I said about it at Spinner.com.)
Also
along for the ride were one of my most favorite live bands: The
Brazilian Girls. Sabina and Co. were their New York arty, gorgeous
selves. But alas, it wasn't exactly the right pairing of sounds for a
tour. Brazilian Girls are the epitome of nighttime New York. They are
not happy-go-lucky, sunshiney, nor goofy. What they are is sexy,
sophisticated, and sultry with a sly, European lunacy. It's like adding
a single trip-hop band to an all alt-folk lineup. And I think it
backfired.
The
Brazilians tried their darnedest, but they never won over the Terminal
5 crowd. And their energy flagged as a result, which simply served to
perpetuate the problem.
