Videos

Every fan of music knows there is no substitute for the live show.  Even though I do prefer the album version of most songs (I believe perfection is achieved in the studio—if you have to change the song when it’s live, you’re doing something wrong), a good live performance can add exciting elements or give further insight into the song. That, and they can just be so damned entertaining. So what better way to kill a snow day than with a few minutes of live music entertainment? And who knows, you might even discover a new band. So here are a few of my favorite one-off live performances, in no particular order.

Nine Inch Nails – March of the Pigs

“But wait,” you say. “This is the official video. I thought you said ‘live?’” Funny story.  This was the “performance” part—the lip-synching—of what was supposed to be a much more in-depth video for March of the Pigs. You can hear Trent at the beginning saying, “Roll sound. Sound?” When whatever intern doesn’t get to it, Chris Vrenna picks up the slack and starts playing the opening drum riff.  I love the point when it switches from Trent Reznor looking bored to him nodding his head as if to say, “Okay, we’re going to do this.”  What follows is a spur-of-the-moment, stripped down live performance.

Tomahawk – God Hates a Coward

Here is where those “exciting elements” I mentioned before come into play.  It’s great to see the equipment Mike Patton uses to get three different sounding vocals, especially the gas mask! It helps that Mike Patton is a great singer and a fantastic frontman.

Jeff Buckley – Grace

I’m not sure where I first saw this, but it’s my favorite live performance from the late, great Jeff Buckley. It’s videos like this that make me regret not being born 10 years earlier so I could catch a few of his shows.  A solid performance that also showcases his amazing vocal ability; the climax at the end always gives me goosebumps.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Maps

My favorite Yeah Yeah Yeahs song.  There is nothing particularly exciting about this one until the end, but it’s a great way to finish the song.

Beck – Clap Hands

Beck has always been one of the more innovative performers around, and this video only reinforces that.  While he plays what is probably one of the easiest guitar riffs of all time, his band steals the show with their awesomely percussive dinner.

David Ford – Go To Hell

Even though “State of the Union”—a video of similar concept and a song of higher caliber—is what really got me in to David Ford in the first place, this video is done much better.  This doing everything himself and looping it to gradually build to a complete song has come to be a hallmark of many of his videos, as well as his live show.  Which, by the way, is a must-see.

A Perfect Circle – Judith

I don’t know why I like this performance so much.  Maybe because it was the first time I’d see APC, or even the first time I’d really seen Maynard (my biggest man-crush).  Maybe it’s just Maynard’s super awesome suit (which I want a replica of for my wedding) or just the fact that I like to watch Maynard on stage. Either way, it’s a great performance and definitely one of my favorites to watch.

A Perfect Circle – Judith – Live on Conan
Uploaded by Consommateur_74537. – Watch more music videos, in HD!

Fleet Foxes – Mykonos

I had been aware of Fleet Foxes previous to seeing this—had even listened to their album a few times—but it wasn’t until this very performance that LeeAnne and myself became fans.  It’s a great song and a great performance, which is only elevated by the ending.  This is another band I would suggest seeing live, as their harmonizing is enchanting and their music is excellent.

The Mars Volta – Son et Lumiere/Inertiatic ESP

Of any band I’ve seen live, be it in person or on video, I don’t think any has as charismatic a frontman as The Mars Volta’s Cedric Bixler-Zavala and, to a lesser extent, guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. Both could command your attention with the pure energy that flows through them once the music starts. I never had the ability to see Freddie Mercury of Jim Morrison live, but one day I’ll be able to brag that I saw Cedric Bixler-Zavala.

If any of the links don’t work, please let me know.  Otherwise, enjoy the videos and link me to some of your own.

Rob Zombie: Hellbilly Deluxe 2

Artist: Rob Zombie
Album: Hellbilly Deluxe 2
Release Date: 02.02.10
Label: Roadrunner
Producer: Rob Zombie

It was with a marked lack of excitement that I got Rob Zombie’s latest album; I hadn’t even heard about it until he’d said something via Twitter, and even then it took a while to convince myself to get it. I don’t know what made me take the time on the album; maybe a sense of nostalgia for college or some misguided sense of dedication to Rob, who’s brought me a lot of entertainment since the mid-90s. And I don’t know why this one, either, as I’d completely skipped over Educated Horses (which, from what I read, was not a big mistake). The best reason I can come up with is the album’s name. Hellbilly Deluxe was a solid CD, so maybe this one would be as well.

While I am still in the process of re-experiencing Zombie’s solo catalogue, I may have to go out on a limb right away and say this could be his best solo work. The songs are tight, many of them coming in under three minutes, and none seem to drag. “Less is more” is a great business model for Rob, as songs about horror movies and horror movie monsters can become tedious when you have album after album full of them. The great thing is, though, we haven’t come to expect anything more from him. No one picks up a Rob Zombie album looking for blistering social commentary or astounding wordplay; they expect to hear about werewolves and things that lurk in the night, which is exactly what we get. But they key is that we never get too much at once. Even the final song on the album, “The Man Who Laughs,” which comes in at almost nine minutes, doesn’t seem long as it’s divided by an excellent drum solo.

And though Rob delivers only what we’ve come to expect of him over the last 20-odd years, the real backbone of the album is the guitar work of John Lowry. John worked on Educated Horses, but it definitely sounds like he’s been given much more free range to do his own thing this time around, which vastly improves the musical landscape of the album. From the backing riffs to the solos, Lowry shines throughout the entire CD, at points resurrecting classic Southern rock sounds and even Led Zeppelin (the guitar riff on “Werewolf, Baby” sounds a lot like “Custard Pie”). He then mixes these classic sounds with what could almost be described as circus music, creating what you might hear if Molly Hatchet toured with Barnum and Bailey.

My only real complaint on the album—aside from the lackluster lyrics—is the horror movie samples, once again at the beginning of almost every single song. And while I am praising him for finding his niche and sticking to it, a line or two from a different 1950s horror film at the beginning of every song is starting to get redundant. It’s even more annoying when it comes in the middle of a song. The culmination of this is when he plays a sample from Werewolf Women of the SS—a trailer he wrote for the Grindhouse movies. So here we have a song about the Werewolf Women, who he wrote a movie trailer for, sampling lines from the movie trailer he wrote. It would be utterly self-indulgent if the song wasn’t so damned whimsical.

In the end, though, it is what it is. Zombie isn’t blazing any new ground here, though Lowry is trying his damnedest to do so himself. The horror movie lyrics do hold the album back, but the short songs and excellent guitar work help to keep anything from feeling too tedious. I doubt this album will come anywhere near my overall top 10 for the year, but taken for what it is—pure entertainment—I will give it eight out of 10 resurrected corpses.

High Street Grill: Winterfest 2

On Saturday, LeeAnne and I met up with our friends Mel and Ray of Bathtub Brewery to check out High Street Grill’s second annual Winterfest in Mt. Holly, NJ—a beer festival made up of two 1:45 sessions, held in a tent in the parking lot and boasting 40 beers from 20 breweries across the states. The caliber and distance of some of the breweries surprised me; I expected to see the locals and the smaller breweries (Troegs, Yards, Victory, Boaks), but I was caught a bit off guard by the likes of Stone, Magic Hat, Flying Dog and Left Hand. One of my favorites, Unibroue, even had Canada represented.

Unfortunately, this being my first beer festival, I made the rookie mistake of forgetting my trusty Moleskine and pen. Luckily, they had a paper handout to keep notes on, but I found that I had enough trouble wrestling with the paper just to check off the beers I was trying. Plus, I’m still a relative beginner when it comes to beer, so my concentration was less on noting what I tasted and more on trying to taste the things Mel and Ray were noting.

All the shortcomings at the festival were not my own, however. The most first problem I noticed was the size of the tent: either it was too small or there were too many tickets sold. Once we started to really experience the clientele at the festival, I started to think it was the latter. This is what I imagine the New Year’s Eve open bar deals to be like; more drunken frat boys than a rape suspect line-up trying to get as drunk as they can to make the best of their ticket price. How naïve of me to think it would be a laid back group, a larger version of the four of us, just trying to try some new beers and hang out. The length of the sessions also left something to be desired—about 20 beers. With the crowd and the limited time, the session flew by and we were only able to get to about half of the breweries.

Overall, though, it was a great time. I was able to drink exactly 20 beers, all of them new to me, which really isn’t bad for a little less than two hours and $30. There are a few more I would have liked to have tried, but it was nothing to complain about. The festival was also bordered by a great time with LeeAnne, Mel and Ray; lunch at the High Street Grill, walking through the Mt. Holly Fire and Ice festival, and having coffee and desert at the Robin’s Nest. The pumpkin mousse pie might have been the best desert I’ve ever had.

At the end of the day, beer is a constant learning experience for me. Even though I recently hit my milestone of 200 different beers, I’ve only just begun to learn about it. I’ve learned what I like and what I don’t care for, but I’m still sussing out differences between styles and their many different characteristics. Going it on my own hasn’t helped much, but with the guidance of Mel and Ray I was able to pick up a little more knowledge. I can read about beer until my eyes fall out, but there’s no replacement for experience. And they were even kind enough to give me three bottles of their own home brews, which I cannot wait to dive into.

My current beer count stands at 239 with a few more to add in the next week. After that, though, I think I might take a little time off of beer for financial reasons. Also, I was thinking about having a beer yesterday around 10am. That kinda scared me.