Friday, February 26, 2010

Soft rock songs overheard in the office that have become stuck in my head this week

In descending order from favorite to least:

Phil Collins - "Against the Odds"
Heart - “These Dreams”
Elton John - "Daniel"
Bette Middler - “Wind Beneath My Wings”
Mariah Carey - “Emotions”
Sarah McLaughlin - “Angel”

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Beach House will kick off summer in Pittsburgh

I normally just update the concert calendar without mentioning it in a post, but I thought this merited a mention given their excellent new album, the growing hype behind it, and--much as I honestly love snow--the urgency with which I pine for summertime to arrive.

BEACH HOUSE
Plus a special guest
Weds, June 16, 2010 7:00 PM
DIESEL

Here's their latest track, "The Arrangement":

Monday, February 22, 2010

St. Vincent - Not the College in Latrobe where the Stillers practice

So last night Annie Clark and her band St. Vincent landed at Diesel in the Southside. I attended the show with my new side-project bandmate (see our acoustic chamber pop act "The Snow Drifts" coming soon to a chill venue near you) and we both agreed that Annie and her band put on quite a show. As many of you probably know, Annie has played with Sufjan Stevens and it was clear from the start that her band was going to utilize a vast array of instruments as well. In addition to the standard line-up of guitar, bass and drums, many of the songs featured synth, violin, flute, clarinet or saxophone.

Right from the start, Annie hits you with her amazing vocals. She has great pipes and really uses her range well to contrast what can be some intense instrumentation from her band - it's very striking to hear live. This is a good example of when a studio album can't do an artist or a band justice - some things are just better in a live setting no matter what kind of pro-turntable and tube amplifier your use in your geek-den.

Annie played many songs off of Actor; some high points for me were "The Strangers" and "Actor Out of Work". For the encore, she also played an awesome, solo rendition of "Paris is Burning", which highlighted her guitar work and finger picking proficiency. By the way, she can absolutely shred as well. On several songs, her insane shredding brought her to her knees Hendrix-flaming-guitar-style. Unfortunately, because Diesel was so packed I missed a lot of what she was doing at that point, so I'll have to leave it to my imagination and yours.

Overall, a tight set with a bare bones psychedelic feel due to the strobe lights and smoke machine. There are only two negatives that I will point out: (1) Annie's guitar was mixed very low at the beginning of the set and was completely drowned out by the drums and synth on several early songs; and (2) because the crowd was so large, we were stuck near the men's bathroom on the first floor and the dude who hands you towels and sells single cigarettes had the door wide-open. That wouldn't be noteworthy enough to make this review, but he was also watching some movie on a mini-DVD player with the volume turned up loud enough to hear during the show. Now I'm all in favor of free enterprise and I'm sure it sucks sitting in a men's bathroom next to a couple commodes and some urinals all night, but either put on some headphones or shut the damn door. Thankfully, somebody finally had him lower the volume, and eventually he shut the door, but still! That might be perfectly fine on a "normal" Saturday night when Diesel turns into a sweat factory, but not during a St. Vincent show.

So anyway, kudos to the Pittsburgh music contingency for coming out en masse on a Sunday night at Diesel for a killer show, and kudos to Annie and her band for making it completely worth it.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Eyes on the roads



And in case anyone cares, I've spent about two-thirds of my life in Pittsburgh and I am firmly in the anti-chair camp. The rest of you are just egocentric loons.

Excerpts of a convo about new tunes had among the lazy SITKOT bloggers



SITKOT's been a little quiet lately for no good reason, but our stereos have not. Here's what we're listening to, as discussed over some snowy e-mails this morning:

El Loco Mooso:

My favorite albums so far this year are:

Owen Pallet - Heartland

and

Hot Chip - One Life Stand

That is all.

Jimmy:

I agree that Owen Pallet is one of the top albums so far. My list would also include:

Beach House - Teen Dream
Spoon - Transference

I'm a little underwhelmed by the new Yeasayer album. The first half is very good and on par with their first album, which I thought was awesome. The second half of the album doesn't do it for me. While Spoon's new album gets stronger towards the end, it's almost as if Yeasayer ran out of ideas. I may just have to give it a few more listens though until I make a final decision.

The new Beach House is awesome from beginning to end. Definitely my favorite so far this year.

El Loco Mooso:

Yeah, totally agree.

And those are interesting because so far, I've only listened to the first couple songs from the Yeasayer and Spoon albums and my initial impression was the opposite of yours, which makes sense. The BH album that I have listened to so far has been good. I'll have to listen a little more though. I think I’ve always been drawn to good electronica which is why im digging the new hot chip.

Roberto:

Wow, I'm way behind. I have to confess that of all these, I've only heard about half of Yeasayer and 3/4 of Beach House, and the latter only because Jimmy accidently burned two copies and I got the benefit of that mistake. What kind of a sh*tty rockblogger am I?

Oh yeah, and Spoon I guess. As I was telling Jimmy, I like it better than their past records just because it's more consistently pretty good. No great standouts, but no blatant filler either. A slight departure for them in that regard. Sort of reminds my of a watered down Veckatimest, which I keep liking more and more. So maybe Transference will be a grower?

El Loco Mooso:

Oh and for any black metal fans out there [crickets] Immortal’s All Shall Fall is a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

Btw, Hot Chip's One Life Stand is already on Grooveshark. Go listen to it over and over.

Get on the ball, Roberta.


EDITOR'S NOTE: For the record, Henry mentioned that he's been listening to a lot of Neil Young lately, as have I--Prairie Wind and On the Beach in particular. (And, for your FYI, Henry also hinted at a possible blogging comeback.)

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Them Crooked Vultures on SNL

So it's pretty snowy out there. Not sure if tonight's shows are still on or not. Probably not. SITKOT never claimed to be a meteorological authority.

Assuming your power's on and your cable's not out, SNL should be worthwhile tonight. Ashton Kutcher may be annoying beyond toleration, but if you're not worn out on supergroups, the latest rockstar combo of Dave Grohl on drums, Josh Homme on guitar, and John Paul Jones playing bass should bring a decent offering of rock.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Rockler Radar [A forced title for a blog post about this wintry weekend's concerts in Pittsburgh, PA]

It's really not that bad out. Seriously. Snowy, wet, yes... standard Pittsburgh winter stuff. Turn off the local news and pull on a hat and coat.

I thought I might spend some time today and do a nice profile of some of the Pittsburghers playing around town this weekend to kick this blawg back into gear. Then it occurred to me they've already been profiled by people who've done a more thorough job than I would have. So:

Tonight, Ernie Hawkins returns to Calliope Center Stage in Shadyside with a seriously stellar backing band of Marc Reisman on harmonicas, Roger Day on tuba, Rich Strong on the kit, and Paul Cosentino on clarinet. I wish I had some video to post of the October show with the same group of musicians because it was fantastic. If you like jazzy blues and ragtimey ditties, this will be the best gig you see all winter. Hold me to that.

Tomorrow, you have to make a choice: get happy or get pissed.

Donora will be at the Rex in the South Side. So if you understood "pissed" in the British sense, then maybe this one is actually your show. Chances are if you've been following the blog for a while you already know Donora. If not, this three-piece puts out the best pop rock (I think the full two-word label is quite appropriate here) Pittsburgh has to offer. Take your dancing shoes. And if Bruce Kraus gives you any guff on your way out, tell that old curmudgeon to get his ass back to Bomont.

Or, maybe you took "pissed" in the Americanized sense. That's cool, too. And maybe it's a generalization, but I think you get the idea. Again, a lot of you are probably already familiar with our city's finest punk-pop export, but, if not, you can get up to speed over at Old Mon Music: Anti Flag. They'll be in Millvale, fighting the forces of the grain for all us sinners out there. Maybe you'll spot a local G-20 protester or two.

But lo! There is another option. Maybe the Joe DeNardo wannabes out there have got you feeling lowdown and shut in. Well fear not and rock on: check out the jukebox over at Lawrenceville's own FAWM.org. February Album Writing Month is just getting started, but there are already some fine songs rolling in. I have to admit to surprise at finding more good than bad so far (notwithstanding demo-quality sound, to be excused given the nature of the project). Or at least 50/50. Better odds than you'll find over at the slots.


EDIT: Okay, it's getting a bit worse. Just drive slow. Or maybe take a bus.