The Black Keys - KFC Yum! Center - 09/10/2014

 

Artist: The Black Keys

Venue: The KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, KY

Last night we broke out of our normal mold and actually attended a show at an arena.  Normally, we stick to smaller, more intimate venues because that's the atmosphere I prefer, but my husband is a huge Black Keys fan, so we bit the bullet.  When I bought the tickets, I discovered that they had opened up the floor to standing room, general admission so I snapped up a couple of those and hoped for the best.  Well, the best turned out to be right down front, on the rail, nothing but a couple very large security guards and a whole lot of sound waves between us and stage.  Perfect.

As usual, let me start with the opener.  Cage the Elephant, a band originally from Bowling Green, KY opened.  I have one of their CDs and really like a couple of their songs, but I would be lying if I said this was one of my favorite live performances.  Or even that I especially enjoyed it.  There was a lot of media at this show (or at least more than I'm used to seeing) and the lead singer played to them so much it was kind of ridiculous.  It was nice when they finally left and he could start paying attention to the crowd.  Also, he mimics Mick Jagger's moves so much it was actually kind of comical.  I thought the guys in the band played well and their songs are fast and fun, they just need to tone it down a bit.

After that, The Black Keys took the stage.  It was Dan Auerbach, Patrick Carney and two additional musicians on bass and keys.  I don't have the usual guesstimate of the set list because I don't know the song names well enough to keep track and also because it didn't matter.  As long as Patrick was playing the drums and Dan was playing guitar, he could have been singing the phone book for all I cared.  There is not a lot of chatting in a Black Keys concert, it's not really Dan's thing, but that's fine with me, I kind of think that stopping to talk would have only broken the spell.  And it was quite a spell they weaved.  Patrick Carney is far and away the best drummer I have ever seen.  He creates absolute magic. When he started playing, the drum got in my chest immediately and it felt like my entire body was vibrated apart until I just hung there, mixed with the music in the air.  Then Dan swoops in with that guitar work and glues the pieces back together.  It was everything that is wonderful and mystical about live music.

I know they played all the songs we expected to hear, "Lonely Boy", "Gold on the Ceiling" and "Money Maker", plus an old cover from 2002's The Big Come Up and pretty much everything in between.  I had two favorite moments of the night.  The first was when they played a cover of Edwyn Collins' "Girl Like You", which used to be the ringtone my Husband used for me, so that was pretty awesome.  The second was the absolutely perfect "Little Black Submarines".  It started out with Dan playing the quiet, acoustic, complex guitar part.  Then the haunting vocals came in and the crowd knew every single word.  The song builds slightly in the middle, with a bit of drums being added in.  Then, for the last 1/3 of the song, it absolutely explodes in a cloud of raw, powerful rock.  It was amazing.

It was a great show.  Both Dan and Patrick are amazing musicians and it was totally worth the wait to get down front where we could really watch them at their craft.  Even the crowd was relatively well-behaved (only 2 people got thrown out that we saw).  I still don't prefer arena shows, but if I'm going to go to one, I want it to be exactly like this.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

It's the most wonderful time of the year!  And by that I mean the holidays - because this is the time of year when I'm forced to shop, which I have a general distaste for.  What's wonderful about that, you ask?  Because to ease the sting of shopping in a mall, I see no other option than to sprinkle the day with visits to local record stores!  So I'm here to share with you my haul so far this holiday season.

 My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges (vinyl)

I saw this record at Joe's some time ago and picked it up and carried it around and pondered over the price tag and put it back.  We danced around like that for a while.  Somehow I had managed to never really hear anything by MMJ and I couldn't decide if I wanted to spring for the vinyl or just get a $10 download from iTunes.  So I put my quandary out there on twitter and received instant feedback.  Mostly in the form of "seriously, you even have to ask?" and mostly from one Dylan over at MoreThanAFeeling (trust me, you can trust his opinion) and Mr. Aaron Tap.  At that point, it was pretty much a no-brainer.

 

If you haven't heard this record, you really should.  I can't say that it's my favorite record of all time or anything, but it is pretty amazing.  The vinyl version is 2 LPs and includes a CD.  I'm not sure I've ever heard an album that covers this much ground.  I spend the entire time totally fascinated with Jim James' mind. 

 



 Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits (vinyl)

 

I picked this one up on a whim.  I had heard good things about Divine Fits and they're opening for The Black Keys in Las Vegas December 30 & 31, so I was intrigued.  There is a bit more synth on this one than I'm used to, but I dig it.  I haven't listened to it enough to get too in depth, but so far so good.  I also absolutely adore the cover art.  It looks like a photograph but (upon reading the liner notes) I discovered it's actually a painting (you can tell once you know) and it's just stunning.  I plan to look up the artist and see what else he's done.

 



 AC/DC - Black Ice

The Goo Goo Dolls - Dizzy Up the Girl

Cage the Elephant - Cage the Elephant

 

I found these in various used CD racks around town.  The new AC/DC album sounds pretty much like every other AC/DC album ever made which is just fine with me.  I love them, I've loved them forever.  "Shook Me All Night Long" was the first song I ever knew all the words to (which believe me, raised a few eyebrows on the school bus when I was a kid) so their music is pretty ingrained in me.  Some of my favorite memories from high school have this band playing in the background.  Good stuff.

 

As far as I'm concerned, The Goo Goo Dolls aren't a whole lot different than a lot of other bands that were around in the late 90's, but there are a couple songs on Dizzy Up the Girl that I happen to adore.  Namely "Slide" and "Black Balloon".  Still, I've never owned the album before, so when I saw it in the $1.99 box at a local head shop, I scooped it right up.  I haven't had a chance to listen to the whole thing yet; I hope I'm not disappointed when I do.

 

At some point somewhere I heard about this band Cage the Elephant.  I heard how unique their sound is and how everyone should be listening to them.  I added them to my "want" list and didn't give it much more thought.  Well I came across this CD for some absurdly low price so I grabbed it. On the way home I popped it in a lo and behold I already knew them!  Anyone who had listened to the radio in the last 5 years has surely heard "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked".  If not, do it.  Now.

 

 Matt Nathanson - Some Mad Hope

Wilco - Sky Blue Sky

Dr. Dog - Takers and Leavers (EP)

The Black Keys - Chulahoma

 

These last four came to me during a trip to Grimey's in Nashville, TN.  Pretty much the best record store east of the Mississippi.  I ended up in Nashville for 3 days for a work thing and since it was the Monday - Wednesday after Thanksgiving, nobody I knew was over here playing so I spent the one free night I had at a record store (big shock, I know).  Grimey's is a crappy looking place in a questionable neighborhood that's hard to get into.  It's hard to park and a bit challenging to find the entrance (it's on the back of the building, upstairs - downstairs is a music venue called The Basement) but once you do, it's absolute heaven.  They have everything imaginable packed into a fairly tiny space.  There so much vinyl I almost OD'd on it.  I loved it.  I wish I was there right now. 

 

Anyway, I picked up Matt Nathanson's Some Mad Hope which is a truly beautiful album.  I already have it on iTunes but I wanted a physical copy too.  So now I have one.  I also got Wilco's Sky Blue Sky because, once again, I've heard good things about them.  I haven't listened to it yet, but when I do, I'll let you know.  I got a couple EP's, Dr. Dog's Takers and Leavers and The Black Keys' Chulahoma.  Both are really good and really good examples of the bands' work. 

 

Two girls I work with went to Grimey's with me and after we left there we stopped at Panera and got dinner.  We went back to the hotel and went our separate ways.  It was early, maybe 7:30pm or so and I happily snuggled into bed with my half turkey sandwich and half a greek salad and a diet coke and spent the evening talking to my husband on the phone and reading liner notes.  I got to unwrap the plastic from the cases (because even a lot of the used ones at Grimey's are wrapped) and inspect the album art and read lyrics and the names of producers and musicians and engineers.  I read every single "thank you" (and even found Aaron Tap and Paula Kelley lurking in there on Some Mad Hope) and date and city and it was wonderful.  They kept me company while I was away from home alone in a hotel room (for the first time ever, I might add) and just reinforced the importance of physical copies of music.  All that album art is put together for a reason - it's there to complete the experience of the album.  I think we owe it to the artists to go on the journey.

 



Latest Purchases

You know me, I'm always buying some music.  I can't have a drug habit because it would cut into my music fund and that would not be cool.  Wednesday and Thursday were lovely days for procuring music.  Here's what joined my collection:

First, the first Betty Goo CD Superchthonic arrived in the mail Wednesday afternoon.  I say the first "CD" because they had a debut release that was only released on cassette (want, want, WANT).  I scoured the internet for Superchthonic for months until some dude in Pennsylvania finally came off a used copy of it.  I found Gooicide first and LOVE it...like, in a big way.  I've been looking for that debut cassette just as long but I have a feeling that search will carry on for some time to come.  Anyway, I've listened to it a couple times and while it isn't quite the religious experience that Gooicide is, it is pretty sweet.  Some of these Betty Goo lyrics really hit home and while that probably means that deep down I'm totally fucked up, that's cool, I've never minded that too much.

Then Wednesday night I got The Black Keys' The Big Come Up (which is their debut) from iTunes (mostly for my husband) but I listened to it this morning and all I can say is that it's like getting slapped in the face with a handful of awesome.  I mean, seriously, where do these two young white boys get that sound??  Amazing.

Then, the most exciting thing ever happened (ok, maybe not EVER but it was pretty cool).  My music guru (don't say "Who?" you know who I'm talking about) actually recommended an album to me.  Not like, in a "Song of the Week" kind of way, but in a "Here, try this one" kind of why.  Very awesome.  (Can I do that?  Can I use very and awesome together?  Well I just did and the grammar police can suck it)  Oh, and you know what the best part is?  It's an album by Boy Wonder - a quartet, half of which are none other than the wicked talented Paula Kelley and Aaron Tap.  Built-in amazing. So, naturally there was nothing else to do but immediately become the proud owner of a digital copy of Boy Wonder's Break the Spell, Etc.  Of course, I have a sneaking suspicion that this is going to be another band that I want to see live and can't. 

Sunday Vinyl

Yesterday afternoon we went to Half Price Books and I browsed the used CD rack for a while.  I was lucky enough to find Regina Spektor's Begin to Hope and Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water.  I'm telling you right now, if that song ("Bridge Over Troubled Water") doesn't, at the very least, put a lump in your throat, you really need to have a serious conversation with yourself about your humanity.  Dude, it's a killer.  This album also has "The Boxer" on it, which is my all time favorite S&G song, so it was a major steal at $4.79. 

Then we went and visited my favorite little record store (which happens to be right here in our tiny little town) and not only did I join their vinyl club, but we also found Rubber Factory by The Black Keys and Dr. Dog's new release Be The Void, both on vinyl.  I had never heard anything by Dr. Dog before, I had only heard that Shame, Shame was an incredible record.  It was so exciting and old school to buy something that I had never heard before (you know, I hadn't previewed it on iTunes yet) that I just couldn't resist.  And, thankfully, I was not disappointed.

We listened to Rubber Factory as soon as we got home.  The record shop guy said it was far and away his favorite album by The Black Keys, but I don't know about that.  Don't get me wrong, it is quite good, but it doesn't have quite the gritty, sexy groove that Thickfreakness has.  Maybe it's the cover art...who knows.  Rubber Factory is much more mellow though, so if that's the mood you're in, it's definitely the right record.  Pretty sure the record shop guy is a bit of a stoner, so I can see where he's coming from.

All in all, it was a good music weekend.  Now, if I could just talk my laptop and iTunes into getting together and importing all these CDs I've purchased lately, that would be awesome.  It gave up after Gooicide.  I guess that was just too much awesome for it to handle.

New Music Monday

I have been listening to a ton of new music lately; so much so that I kind of feel like I'm neglecting some old favorites.  I'll have to rectify that situation soon, but for now I'm really enjoying finding new artists and expanding my collection.  This week I'm going to share a few new albums that I've come to own recently.  A couple of these are new to the world, a couple aren't, but they are all new to me, so maybe they will be to you too!

Thickfreakness - The Black Keys
I was coerced into buying this album by my husband who is really coming into his music-nerd own with his fondness for The Black Keys.  Besides having possibly my favorite title ever, Thickfreakness is just gritty and dirty and wonderful.  No way does this sound like two relatively young white boys.  It is much more like an old African American man who has seen it all and done it all and is ripping the stories of it all out of his gut for your listening pleasure.  If you have ever been there, this record will make you miss the shit out of New Orleans.  If you haven't been, it should make you want to go in a big way.  I'm digging on El Camino too, but this one is much better for me.

Human Again - Ingrid Michaelson
I can't remember exactly where I heard about Ingrid Michaelson, but luckily I did just before her 5th studio album, Human Again was released.  I love her voice and I love this record.  Is it just the string arrangements that appear in a few songs that get me?  Or is it the groove of "Black and Blue"?  Or is it a combination of these things mixed with her genuine, crafty songwriting and from-the-heart vocal delivery?  Yes, I'd say it's probably all of those things coming together on this record to create a perfect storm of can't-stop-listening-to-it.  Now I'm excited to look back into her catalogue and see what else is there.

The Trouble With Success or How You Fit Into the World - Paula Kelley
Sure, this record is nine years old, but I only got it a few weeks ago so therefore it still qualifies a "new".  As you know (because I won't shut up about her), I found Paula Kelley via an Aaron Tap tweet and was instantly drawn to her voice, which led me to fall completely in love with the arrangements behind the vocals.  I've listened to Airports - EP about a million times and finally decided to expand my collection and get a new PK record.  When I bought it, I had to pick between Nothing/Everything and this one and I think I picked right (well, I guess I did...I let you know after I get Nothing/Everything - which will be soon because I ordered it last night).  The Trouble With Success is a showcase of all the wonderful things about Paula Kelley...her voice, her interesting and intelligent songwriting and her wicked good arrangements.  Just buy it.

Love Is Another Drug - Jesse Macht
I just discussed this one here.  And I was right - it's awesome.  He is awesome.  Just go buy everything he has recorded, you won't regret it.