Dillo Day News

Welcome to spring quarter, definitely my favorite at Northwestern. Part of the reason its so great is the day-long music and alcohol binge that is Dillo Day. As we all know, Dillo Day is a storied and historic event at Northwestern, and one of its long-standing traditions is to not announce the bands until all contracts are finalized. This leads to last minute announcements within the last couple weeks that finally confirm who's playing this years festival.

That leads us to a counter tradition, and that is the rumors about which bands are playing. In case you weren't paying any attention, the Daily started it off about a month and a half ago by reporting that Lupe Fiasco will be performing this year. Personally I really hope this is true, cause I love Lupe and think he'll be a great fit. I've heard another rumor also that Lupe isn't even the headliner, that there's someone bigger, although I have a hard time believing that.

Anyways, here's the next rumor - Cake. According to certain online sources, the quirky alt-rock band from Sacramento will be playing Dillo Day. If you don't know who Cake is or don't listen to them, you should get started, cause concerts are always better when you know the songs.

Cake's style can be a little hard to describe. They are definitely a rock based group, but they throw in touches of many other genres such as jazz, funk, and country. The most distinctive part of the band is the lethargic, off-beat singing of front man John McCrea, who sounds like he has almost no interest in actually singing the song.

But rather than trying to really describe their sound, it's probably easier to just post some examples instead -

This first song The Distance is one of their best. If you don't like this song, well then there's something wrong with you.




And here's a couple more samples off some different albums

The Harder They Come

Hey everyone....we're back. Spring Break was pretty awesome. Alec and I spent it playing ultimate/chilling at a beach house in Georgia, SC, and NC...all of which were insanely fun. I hope that all of yours went well also! Now when we drove back to Chicago, the first day of the new quarter was just as warm as spring break...and then it just dropped off. So to conjure back the warmth, beaches, and sun, I've been listening to a lot of reggae music lately, most specifically the sountrack to the 1973 film The Harder They Come.

The film stars Jimmy Cliff, a famous reggae singer, who as a kid who comes to the city (Kingston perhaps?) in Jamaica with an idea for a hit reggae song. He records it for a man who offers him an incredibly low sum of 20 dollars. He decides not to sign the deal and try to sell it elsewhere. However, apparently this man owns the entire music industry in Kingston...so he goes back and gets his 20 bucks. Since this isn't enough to live on, he turns to a life of drug dealing. I won't spoil anything else just in case you want to check the movie out. However, this is really only my vague understanding. The movie is all in super-thick Jamaican accents and quite hard to follow due to some pretty poor directing.

The soundtrack is where the movie really shines. Apparently this soundtrack is what really popularized reggae in the western world. The soundtrack is recognised by Billboard as one of the 150 most influential records ever. It has songs by reggae greats such as the Toots and the Maytals, Desmond Dekker, and Jimmy Cliff himself. If you are sick of just spinning Bob Marley when you want a reggae fix....check these tunes out from the soundtrack and you too can reconjure sun, beaches, and palm trees. The first is the title track by Jimmy Cliff, and the second is the offering by the Toots and the Maytals called 'Sweet and Dandy'.




Toots and the Maytals - Sweet and Dandy

Apparently, divshare didnt like this one....so here's the link.

Enjoy!

Concert Review: Gym Class Heroes & Rx Bandits

As mentioned briefly in my last post, tonight was the Gym Class Heroes and Rx Bandits show at the House of Blues. I hadn't been to the HOB in many years and had forgotten how small it really is; consequently the show was sold out and we were left to buy tickets on the street. It took us 30 minutes in the freezing cold wind but we finally found some tickets and headed in.

The openers were K-OS, a hip-hop/reggae band from Canada and P.O.S. a rapper from Minneapolis. Both groups were pretty good, but nothing amazing.

Rx Bandits was the 3rd opener, although I had originally thought they were the headliner. If you don't now the Bandits, well it depends on what side of them you want to know. After many years and some line up changes they have evolved from a ska group to reggae/pop to finally progressive rock. Although I always struggle with the idea of bands I like changing their style, Rx Bandits have done a really good job, and their new sound is actually quite good and has lead to two excellent albums, Progress and ...And the Battle Begun.

Their set tonight was solid, but it lacked diversity. They are amazing musicians and have great songs, but they played songs almost exclusively off their new album, and played too many slower songs in a row that seemed to make the crowd lose its energy. Speaking of crowd, this was a hip-hop crowd, so those of us that were there to rock out for a rock band were not too well received. There was a small pit in the back, but for the most part the crowd was somewhat indifferent towards Rx Bandits. With 3 other hip-hop groups on the bill, they were the odd band out. But despite my criticisms of their song choices, the songs they did choose to play they played well as expected with smooth interludes and progressions between songs.

Gym Class Heroes (pictured above) finished up the night. This group has really grown on me lately with their mix of hip-hop, pop, funk, and rock music. The songs are catchy, and they play with a full band which is nice to see. Frontman Travis McCoy is a very talented rapper as well, though tends to be a little heavy on songs written about women. I was very impressed with their set overall tonight. The full band played well together and did a good job of transferring the sound from the cd to a live show. Travis works the crowd real well and has good stage presence. I even enjoyed the backdrop they had along with the lighting effects. The only real problem I had with the set was that they had lots of reverb on all the vocals, I don't know if this was the band's request or the HOB just messing up the sound, but either way it didn't work.

So here's a couple songs from the main groups tonight in case you're not familiar

Rx Bandits - In Her Drawer

Rx Bandits - Decresendo

Be sure to check out Decrescendo, it has one of the best breakdowns in a song and really shows off the talent of drummer Christopher Tsagakis.

And a couple Gym Class songs off their latest album.

Gym Class Heroes - Shoot Down The Stars

Gym Class Heroes - Clothes Off!

The first one is one of my favorite songs of theirs, and the second is a more radio friendly song featuring Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump.


That's it for a week or so while Kyle and I are off for spring break. If you're heading out on break make sure you have a good one.

-Alec

T.I. on Spring Break

When a few friends and I first heard the new T.I. album, King, we pretty much immediately thought Spring Break. Freshman year it was the Usher CD, Sophomore year it was old school stuff a la Snoop and Warren G. Since it's almost time to make the annual road trip down to GA for some ultimate...It's finally time to bust out King for its intended purpose, cruisin.

T.I., who actually hails from Atlanta, really lets his southern influences out in this record with club-ready singles and 'party' lyrics. This isn't your introspective hip-hop album that you might get from a Lupe Fiasco...this is let's cruise, let's party hip-hop. Speaking of lyrics, if anybody wants to try and translate his lead single 'What You Know' for me in the comment section, it would be much appreciated. Take a look on some lyrics website....when he says "what you know about that..." it's actually quite true, because I have no idea.

I put up three of my favorites below. The first, which you may have heard, the single 'What You Know', which should be the first thing bumping in your car on the Friday that you are done with classes. 'I'm Straight' features B.G. and Young Jeezy, and brings a chiller vibe. The bass line is addicting, and you'll find yourself reaffirming your straightness for the entire day. 'Ride Wit Me' is the third one with a catchy chorus and yet another cruisin feel. T.I. does show some versatility with a solid R&B track with guest Jamie Foxx, and a solid tune with Pharell and Common utilizing a nice piano line. Of course, this is your typical hip-hop album with a decent amount of filler, but take 6 or 7 songs off it and make yourself a killer spring break mix.







-Kyle

Concert Review: Steel Train

Steel Train has been a favorite live act of mine for years. In case you're not familiar with them, they are a group out of New York that has a variety of styles, ranging from folk acoustic to jam band to their newest style which is rooted more in indie and pop music. Kyle and I headed out to the Beat Kitchen Wednesday night with a few friends to check them out again, and while their style has changed, possibly due to the replacement of two of the members, the show was still good.

The show featured only one opener, a local act named Dorian Minor. Not to sound too harsh, but naming your band after a melodic mode in music is really dorky. We didn't actually make it into the venue to actually see them, as there were $2 Berghoff pints in the bar and that seemed to be the better choice. We heard snippets of songs through the door, which sounded very influenced by Chicago's pop-punk scene, but other than that I can't really comment since we didn't see their set.

As for Steel Train, they are a band that seems to always be changing styles. When I first got into them they were an acoustic group signed on Drive-Thru records that was somewhat pop influenced. They then morphed a bit with their first full length release Twilight Tales from the Prairies of the Sun into their acoustic folk/ jam band style that has much of its influences in music from the '60s and '70s. This was their sound that I enjoyed most live, because lead singer and guitar player Jack Antonoff is one of the most talented guitar players I have ever seen live. Their style during this period was to just jam on songs and let Jack go, and he would rip off some amazing guitar solos. The shows were full of energy, had great grooves, and amazing solos.

Their latest iteration though has moved away from this and is more reminiscent of groups such as U2. This was the style they leaned towards on Wednesday. While I enjoyed their new stuff as well, I was disappointed to see that they are moving away from their old live show style. Jack's guitar solos in the new stuff are almost non-existent, and he has taken over leading singing completely, a job he formerly shared with keyboardist Scott Irby-Ranniar. Scott has one of the smoothest voices and singing styles you will ever hear, and it added a very unique element to their sound.

Overall the show was pretty good, but I was surprised that they only played for barely an hour when there was only one opener and the show ended by 11pm. I admit that I wanted to hear more older songs, but that's not a knock against their new stuff. Really I wish they would play one set of their old stuff and then another set of new songs, cause it's really like two completely different bands.

Also this was my first time to the Beat Kitchen, which is located on Belmont but out west towards 94. It's a nice place with cheap beer and a small but good concert area.

For a sample here's a couple songs off their old album. The newest stuff is supposed to be on an album due out later this year, but as of right now I don't have any of it so you'll have to check it out at www.myspace.com/steeltrain.





and here's a cover of the Jackson Five's I want you back just for good measure. These songs feature Scott on vocals with his wonderful voice.





Also I want to post a concert announce for next week. Rx Bandits, Gym Class Heroes, K-OS, and POS @ the House of Blues on Thursday. I know its finals week, but if you're done with finals and are still in town this should be a good one. I'll post some stuff about the bands later, so this is just a heads up.


-Alec

Are You Ready for a Soul Party?

Hey reader, I've been looking into some other file upload sites, and found one that I want to try. Supposedly it'll stream the audio on the site and allow downloads as well. We'll see.

With that, I have been listening to a lot of soul music lately. Alec and I kind of want to have a soul party sometime as well...where we just chill, be soulful, and listen to soul hits. The album that I have been obsessed with lately is James Brown's Soul On Top. James Brown has the reputation of being a godfather of soul and one of the greatest live performers ever, and it is really quite sad that he passed away so recently.

This album, Soul On Top, was a bit of a change for Brown. He was used to being a more freestyling funk singer throughout his career, but on this album he recorded with the jazzy Louie Bellson orchestra. Louie Bellson is an incredible and quite famous drummer, who actually played alongside the percussion ensemble that I played for in High School. James Brown noted that he really had to concentrate when singing for this album, and that it was a huge test for him to complement the band and it's structure so well. I really think that this album solidifes Brown as a very versatile singer, as he is really able to capture a jazzy feel which contrasts with his normal, funky style.

A couple of my favorite tracks are posted below. The first is 'Your Cheatin' Heart,' which is a Hank WIlliams original that James Brown really lights a fire to. I love the interaction between the horns and Brown's melodies, especially when he is allowed to freestyle a bit. Louie Bellson's drumming is impeccable as always, and really holds together, yet pushes the song. The other is 'Every Day I Have the Blues' which starts out with a loud, big band feel, and then swings its way through the verses and the chorus oh so smoothly. Once again, the inflections in Brown's voice really add to the quality of the tune. I hope you guys enjoy this soulful selection.

A bit of downtime

So apparently our file hoster is down for a few days. That means we can't put any sweet music up on the site. That means, Alec will post in one or two days once the file hoster is back online. Until then....check this out

Best Song Ever?

-Kyle