adventure.exe

This past weekend I went up the road to Nashville TN to see one of my favorite bands perform. THE MOUNTAIN GOATS! I've been excited about this show for months. I've seen the mountain goats play before, but it was about 4 years ago and it was at at a festival. Not my ideal situation to see a band I absolutely adore. When I found out they were playing only 3 hours away from me, I jumped to buy tickets!

I got to the venue about 40 minutes before doors opened and the line was already super long. After waiting a while, I got in and found an awesome spot near the stage. Before the mountain goats played, I had to sit through 2 openers. The first was a singer named Larkin Grimm. Never heard of her before last night, but I enjoyed her set. It was cute hippy folk music that charmed me. Besides being mesmerized by her music, I was mesmerized by her face!


She is sooooo beautiful. I internet stalked her because I was so curious about her background. Found out she is a mixture of Afro-Caribbean, german, Sinti, English, Kree, and French! And what beautiful unique mixture! Here's her performing one of her songs



After she performed, I got to see the Final Fantasy. I had heard of them, but never listened to any of their stuff. It's mainly one guy, violinist Owen Pallet. I absolutely loved his set. LOOOOOVED! He had amazing stage presence and hilarious banter in between songs. I fell in love with him more and more with every song. He does this thing where he sings or plays a couple of bars on his violin, records it, loops it, and sing/plays with the recorded track(s) in real time as well. I was amazed as I watching him looping, using his pedals and hearing him create a sound that sounded like a room full of strings at times! AHhh! You just have to see it!


See?!

After internet stalking him, I found out he co-wrote and performed the strings on The Arcade Fire's "Funeral"-one of my favorite albums.



and then I saw the band I was waiting for. The mountain goats. They were...ok. I think what just made the show ok and not AMAZING was that John Darnielle played with a live band. It wasn't The Mountain Goats that I fell in love with. It was a mountain goats with a harder sound. Not the soft acoustic Mountain Goats that sing me to sleep at night.

Still had a good time and glad I got to go! If this tour comes near you, GO GO GO! And if you don't catch any of these acts on this tour, just go enjoy their music! You won't be disappointed!

The Mountain Goats
Final Fantasy

Fredrik

One of my first crushes ever was in first grade on a guy named Fredrik. He was taller than me, always wore turtlenecks with something embroidered on the neck(my favorite was a dinosaur), and was missing his two front teeth. This post however is not about him. It is about a Swedish band named Fredrik. I guess you can say I have a crush on them too. I discovered them on a mix on Fuck A Great Lake last week and haven't stopped listening to them since.


Fredrik is a 6 piece band from Sweden. Just one listen of their song "11 years" and you'll know why I'm crushing on them! Listening to their music is like listening to a bedtime story complete with lovely melodies and soothing vocals. I fell in love with them so much that I broke my 3 year(give or take a few months) streak of having not bought a cd. I ordered their album, "Na Na Ni" and one of their EPs from their website. You can listen to "Na Na Ni" in it's entirety on their website and there's also a link to purchase the music. I'm crossing my fingers that they will play a show and I will get to see them before I leave Europe. Until then, I'll be content with my "bedtime stories".

I leave you with my favorite song from Na Na Ni, "11 years" and it's equally cool video!



Fredrik - 11 Years from The Kora Records on Vimeo.


Fredrik
http://www.sagomusik.com/
http://www.myspace.com/fredriktheband