Sasquatch Music Festival '09

I spent the last ten days in Washington state, in and around the Seattle area. I'd like to thank my good friend Brian for inviting me out there and showing me a great time. Along with some other friends, he and I headed to the Sasquatch Music Festival last weekend. The three day camping festival is held on an picturesque spot in George, Washington, with an incredible view. This year's festival was headlined by Kings of Leon, Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails, and Ben Harper. First, let's take a look at the best surprises of Sasquatch 2009.

Sasquatch '09 - The Surprises

Bon Iver - Sure, I loved Bon Iver's debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago. The album is a quiet, acoustic album, and I was not expecting his concert to be very exciting. I knew I was wrong as soon as lead singer Justin Vernon sang into the mic. The sun had just set on day two, and a brisk wind blew from behind the stage, whipping his hair into a tousled mess. The high falsetto sound of Vernon's voice that defines the album was much more powerful live than I could've imagined. His band, comprised of four relaxed dudes in t-shirts and sports jerseys, was spot on. The vocal harmonies were tight, the music was loud, and the crowd of thousands sang along. All in all Bon Iver caught me totally off guard, making for one of the best shows of Sasquatch.

Bon Iver - Blood Bank

St. Vincent - Before Sasquatch I'd only heard of St. Vincent. Much like Bon Iver, there is one person behind the music. Singer and guitarist Annie Clark is the mastermind, creating music that sounds like a heavier Regina Spektor, with comparable heart. Annie and her band put on a remarkable show, captivating enough for me to forget about the unbearable heat. Definitely check out her new album, titled Actor.
St. Vincent - Marry Me

Stay tuned for more coverage of Sasquatch!

-Chris

Summer Festival Coverage

Summer is prime time for music festivals, from the Newport Folk Festival, to Bonnaroo. This summer f/k will be covering Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, Rothbury, Pitchfork and All Points West for you. Be sure to check back for updates, reviews, interviews and up-to-date coverage. f/k is your place for all the biggest summer festivals!

Public Service Announcement

Hey everyone. Just checkin' in and letting you know that all four of us are still alive. Despite the clear lack of recent posts, you can expect a bunch of new things from fork/knife this summer. We've got a few hot ideas steaming on the front burner right now, and in the next week or so we're going to begin revamping the blog. To those of you that consistently check f/k, thanks for sticking with us and keep coming back. To the rest of you, we're committed to making our site a reliable, unpretentious, and reader-friendly experience. We hope you take a look around.

-fork/knife

Your LOL Moment of The Week

This has probably been around for a while, but I just saw this for the first time today. I am by no means an NBA fan, but I can appreciate good humor, especially when it's done by puppets. A new campaign by Nike features NBA stars Kobe Bryant and LeBron James in puppet form living together and the shenanigans that comes from it. Nike definitely hit this ad campaign out of the park, and for that, "You ain't got no defense!" is your LOL moment of the week.



-Chandler

Album Review: Yesterday and Today

The Field follows up his spectacular debut with an arguably better effort, and turns in a breathtaking collection of sampled and organic sounds

Alex Willner, aka The Field, wowed everyone with his fantastically received and amazingly named debut, From Here We Go Sublime, which I hope most of you have listened to by now. His follow up, Yesterday and Today, was released yesterday on Kompakt. And it's good. Really good. It picks up where Willner left off with Sublime, but tends to veer off into a more organic sound than his debut. The end of the title track shows this subtle addition very well, as John Stanier's drumming turns the song from something great to something astounding. Like Sublime, this collection of songs doesn't belong on the dance floor necessarily, but I feel like Justice could have a field day (pun intended) remixing any one of these tracks and creating something amazing (pretty please?).
I felt like this album was much more of an adventure, and was more cohesive than its predecessor. The listener approaches something as the faint sounds that begin the opening track are slowly amplified, and then is taken through this beat-driven utopian environment as the album goes on. The album closer, "Sequenced," is just pure bliss, and ends with that "waking up to the rising sun, ready to start fresh after the shit went down" feeling. At least that's what I thought. Whether you categorize it as dance, ambient techno, or whatever else you can come up with to describe it, my guess is there won't be a better album of that kind this year. So I strongly suggest picking this up. I'll leave you with the album opener, "I Have the Moon, You Have the Internet."

The Field- I Have the Moon, You Have the Internet
iTunes / amazon
The Field MySpace

-Chandler

Tarkio Binge

While following the Decemberists' broken down bus drama via twitter, and realizing they were stuck in Meloy's home state of Montana, it made me reflect back to an earlier time, a time before the Decemberists. Meloy's college band was named Tarkio, after the city in which they resided. Tarkio actually penned some pretty listenable tunes given their inexperience, and they released Omnibus through Kill Rock Stars in 2006, making some of those old tunes available. Although I'll admit that listening through the entire album can be tedious, it definitely has its moments, and two of my favorites are "Keeping Me Awake" and "Tristan and Iseult." The songwriting shines through on these particular songs, and alludes to the future success currently being enjoyed by the Decemberists. I figured not everyone has heard Tarkio songs, so maybe this could be a little chance to expand the ol' musical repertoire.
PS. I'm not 100% sure what the picture is of, it seems to be a poster for a show. Cool, right? Kind of like the Decemberists '09 SXSW poster by Kathryn Rathke, who makes you want to say words like slithy and raths.
PPS. Curious about this twitter phenomenon? Follow f/k on twitter here.

Tarkio - Keeping Me Awake
Buy Song:ITunes

Tarkio - Tristan and Iseult
Buy Song:ITunes

-Donovan

Happy Birthday!

Happy 42nd birthday to Phil Selway, iconic drummer for Radiohead! Selway's grooves and rhythms have set the stage for forging Radiohead's dynamic sounds, and his drumming has become more and more prominent as Radiohead has progressed. He had a few particularly striking tracks on the band's latest, In Rainbows, and he may be featured even more on upcoming albums. Selway has also worked with 7 Worlds Collide with bandmate Ed O'Brien, where he made his singing debut as well. He had also sung backing vocals on a few songs for Radiohead, most notably "There There" off Hail to the Thief. Hopefully he and his bandmates will continue making exciting, groundbreaking music for many years to come, as Radiohead is showing no signs of slowing down.

-Donovan

Old Yet Good

The way that I began listening to the fantastic music that I do nowadays was through mix CD's, which my sister, Allie, starting giving to me when I was about 15. She gave me music from the likes of My Morning Jacket, Radiohead, Bright Eyes, Jenny Lewis and everything in between.

So, when I got home and realized that the iPod player in my car wasn't working, I pulled out these old CD's, not only because it was all I had to listen to besides the radio (which sucks in Ct.), but also because I knew there would be some fantastic music awaiting.

Upon coming to one song, I fell in love again and now I must share it with everybody here. The song is entitled "If I Could Talk I'd", and it's by The Lemonheads. Enjoy!

If I Could Talk I'd - The Lemonheads
iTunes/Amazon

-Bishop-

Blanket

Fellow blogmate Chandler alerted me to a performance that occured in 2007 and originally aired on BBC with Imogen Heap and Jeff Beck. Being the only writer for the blog both effeminate enough to harbor a soft spot for Imogen Heap and badass enough to be able to rock out to the electric stylings of Jeff Beck. This song is kind of a song that never was for Imogen, it appeared only as a bonus track to her debut, iMegaphone. Needless to say, the song really works in ths instance, as Jeff Beck's guitar perfectly offsets the vocals. Imogen is releasing an album called Ellipse this August, and we'll be providing more updates as the release date approaches. Enjoy.



-Donovan

RADIOHEAD RECORDING NEW ALBUM

"So we wanted to do it as it was meant to be seen – darker and louder."

Now if you've read f/k for a while, you very well may know that Radiohead, collectively, is our favorite band. This means that hearing news of them getting back in the recording studio is mind-blowing, especially since they usually take more time between albums.

Not much has been said, all we know is what bassist Colin Greenwood has told us in this interview with BBC.

In light of this fantastic news, I will leave you with an overdub of two great songs, Radiohead's "15 Step" and Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Take Five". Enjoy.

Radiohead/Dave Brubeck Quartet - Five Step

-Bishop-

Keepin' It Loose & Tight

So, first things first, I would like to apologize for my absence these past few weeks. Unfortunately, I've had my head buried in books these past few weeks studying for finals, so now that I'm done I still don't have any new music for you.

Luckily I do have something new in my life that I am particularly excited about. I've recently met a breath-taking woman up at school, and we spent a phenomenal month and a half together before going our separate ways to return home. This means that we won't be seeing much of one another until next semester, and now I find myself missing her tremendously.

This video is for you Molly. Miss ya.

-Bishop-

Voice of the Week

Hold on to your helmets! It's time for a new segment on fork/knife. Along with Music Movie Monday and our other weekly segments, I'm starting Voice of the Week. Each week or so, we'll spotlight a singer with pipes to die for. There'll be sultry singers, strong singers, creepy singers, loud singers, and every other type of singer you can think of. In time, hopefully we'll end up with a collection of the best voices in music. Sound good? Let's see what happens.


We might as well start off with the best, right? Well, close to it. Toby Leaman is the co-frontman of Dr. Dog, singing lead vocals while also playing the bass. Leaman leads the Philadelphia based band with a coarse and ferocious voice, and his unchained style couldn't fit the band better. Here are two songs that feature Toby at his best. Enjoy! And keep an eye out for the next Voice of the Week.

Dr. Dog - Keep a Friend
Dr. Dog - The Pretender
iTunes/Amazon

Dr. Dog's Official Site

-Chris

MLIA

We're slacking on the posts lately, so I thought I'd just put something up. Unlike many people, I was never a huge fan of the site FML, mainly because it was so obvious that many of the stories were made up. Luckily, our good friend Will just tipped me off to a similar website that I find much more enjoyable and comical. MyLifeIsAverage, or MLIA, takes the idea of FML and, in my opinion, heightens it dramatically. The stories may still be made up, but they're so mundane that I don't care if people believe them or not. Here's an example:

"Today I tried to Google something, Safari told me I wasn't connected to the internet. I was, so I refreshed and Google showed up. MLIA."

Anyway, check out the site and decide for yourself. Also, I'm going to throw in a song by The Vaselines, because it is one of the few recent releases that I can recommend.

MLIA.com

The Vaselines- Dying For It
iTunes / amazon
The Vaselines MySpace

-Chandler

A Wave of New Music

Photo Credit: Pat Graham

Well, more like a tsunami. These days, it seems like the new music just keeps coming. So far, we've reported on new tunes from fork/knife favorites like Fleet Foxes and Wilco. Before you've even had time to process those, there's more to hear.

First off is Modest Mouse. Since their 2007 album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, these guys have been touring the U.S. and (quietly) releasing some new songs. The band has recently posted a song called "Satellite Skin" which is soon to be released as a single on vinyl (woot!). It sounds a lot like their other songs, but I'll let you decide whether that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Stream: Modest Mouse - "Satellite Skin"


Next up is Iron and Wine. Sam Beam (above) and friends are getting ready to release a "rarities compilation" in the next week or so. It's called Around The Well. The album is a double CD release, also available on 3 vinyl LP's. The whole thing is free to listen to on the band's MySpace. If you're not familiar with the group, they're known for making quiet acoustic songs with some southern heart. Take a listen! So far I'm really liking Around The Well.

Stream: Iron and Wine - Around The Well


Phew! That about does it for the new stuff at the moment, I'm sure there'll be more to come. Let the summer begin! So far, 2009 is turning out to be a year of great music, and it can only get better.

-Chris

Hear the New Wilco Album!

Thanks to a heads up from Pitchfork, we've just gotten the news that Wilco is streaming their entire new album, Wilco (The Album). The album is on the band's website, which you can find here:

Listen to the new album!

-Chris

Guitars of Integrity

Well, I'm back safe and sound at home after a rousing first two semesters of college. You can expect some scintillating, spine-tingling posts from here on out. As I was thinking back on the past, I realized that only about a year ago now I was working on a Spanish project with some now blogmates, and thinking back longingly on that extremely goofy yet loveable video (I wore an eye patch inexplicably), the background music was by the fantastic Rodrigo y Gabriela. I'm sure you know the tune, but the way they manage to do it here is really inventive. Not to mention the guitar playing itself is otherworldly.

Rodrigo y Gabriela - Stairway to Heaven
Buy Song:ITunes

-Donovan

New Fleet Foxes!

Photo Courtesy of David Belisle

Robin Pecknold, lead singer of Fleet Foxes, occasionally uses a MySpace page called White Antelope as a place to post acoustic covers. He recently added two new songs to the page, called "Silver Dagger," and "Wild Mountain Thyme." Who knows whether or not these will end up on a new Fleet Foxes release or not, either way they soothe to the max.

Hear the new songs!

-Chris

Motherlover

Well half of the f/k team is back home, which means you should start to see an increase in the amount of posts. It also means we'll be here to bring all the things you shouldn't miss, like the sequel to the beloved "Dick In a Box" sketch shown on SNL last night. In case you somehow managed to missed the original "Dick In a Box," that sketch precedes the new one below. Also, happy Mother's Day to all of our readers who are moms!





-Chandler

Animal Collective Update

Hopefully you caught Animal Collective on Letterman, but if you didn't, here it is. The song is "Summertime Clothes," from Merriweather Post Pavillion.

-Chris

Song o' the Week #20

Stumbled upon this today while my iTunes was on shuffle. Just some fat beatzz if you're planning on celebrating the end of school.


Fear of Tigers- The Rich Cry Too
Fear of Tigers MySpace

-Chandler

What Sucks More Than Anything?

(From kinda bad to the worst)

- Global Warming

- Finals Week

- Yellow Fever
- Nancy Grace

- The new songs from Green Day

Thanks for sticking with us through finals week, we've had no time to post amidst all the craziness. Next week we'll be home and back in action, ready to make fork/knife your most favoritest music blog ever.

-Chris

Lewis Finds Solid Gold

My good friend Lewis introduced me to Solid Gold sometime last week. They're a local Minneapolis band with some serious potential, which has earned them some attention here in the Twin Cities and apparently also the UK. I don't really see why Solid Gold isn't more popular,
after listening to this song I think you might agree. It's from their album called Bodies of Water.

Solid Gold - Get Over It
iTunes

Solid Gold's MySpace Page

-Chris

We're Sorry

Whether this is your first time visiting our site, or your sixth time visiting today, we appreciate your support, but you may have noticed a lack of posting lately. This is explained by the fact that the four of us here at f/k are all pre-occupied by writing term papers, as well as studying for and taking finals.

But have no fear, soon we will have more time on our hands than we'll know what to do with, and we'll also be re-united in the lovely town of Guilford, CT, so superfluous posting will be inevitable.

Bob Mould - I'm Sorry, Baby, But You Can't Stand In My Light Any More

-Bishop-

Music Movies Monday #12

Last MMM, we got a suggestion from one of our loyal readers for this week's MMM, and we're not ones to turn down a request. Plus, it's really good. Antony's voice requires some adjustment, but once you get there, he possesses one of the most haunting and beautiful voices out there. It's the only video for this week because I honestly don't have time to search for more. If you want more MMM, might I suggest watching it over again? Ripped mp3 after the video.



Antony- If It Be Your Will (live Leonard Cohen cover)
Antony & The Johnsons MySpace
Leonard Cohen Website

-Chandler

Titus Andronicus

Here's a post to please the masses, though it must be short as I do need to study for finals. This is from Titus Andronicus' '08 release The Airing of Grievances. The band name referring to Shakepseare's tragedy, the album name referring to Seinfeld, and the song name referring to, well, the above painting.

Titus Andronicus- Upon Viewing Brueghel's "Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus"
iTunes / amazon
Titus Andronicus MySpace

In addition, here's the video for the above song, which just came out a couple days ago.

-Chandler

White Rabbits

White Rabbits are a Missouri-made-New York band, and they have a great deal of potential. Their latest record, It's Frightening, is due out May 19th.

Upon further investigation, I found out that It's Frightening is being produced by Spoon's lead singer/songwriter Britt Daniel, and will be released on TBD Records (Radiohead and Other Live's current record label). Two pros in my opinion.

Look out for this band to hit it big, and enjoy "Percussion Gun".

White Rabbits - Percussion Gun

-Bishop-