Filed under: Summer Concerts 2010 | Tags: Best Coast, Free Energy, Loose Limbs, The Fly
The Fly at Sidewalk Cafe (Photo by Jamie Kapili
Between the South Street Seaport’s hosting of the River to River Festival and the Sidewalk Cafe’s penchant for hosting tight, energetic, up-and-comers, free music was covered Friday July 23, with a night of lo-fi silliness, stridently popping youth-rock and R&B showmanship. 20 Watts was able to check out shows from two venues and four bands on Friday: Loose Limbs, Best Coast, Free Energy and Syracuse natives The Fly. READ FULL REVIEW HERE (more…)
Filed under: 20 Watts Video | Tags: Bayside, cleveland, conventry village, corduroy mason band, diamonds and pearls, funk n waffles, grog shop, hawthorne heights, justin markert, keith vance, melvins, ohio sky
The Grog Shop
VISIT: THE GROG SHOP ONLINE
The Grog Shop is a legendary Ohio venue that’s served Cleveland Heights for over a decade. One month ago 20 Watts decided to commission a short documentary on it.
Venues like the Grog Shop always have great history attached to them — a history of intrinsic connection with the music we hear in them. Think back to the best concerts you’ve been to and think about why they were great. Sure the band was awesome, but apart from the live performance and its smoke and mirrors, what will make the experience memorable? Venues owe a debt to the musicians who play in them just as bloggers and journalists do. Their job is to enhance the experience of the fans beyond what the band can pull off.
20 Watts staffers have had countless breathtaking experiences at Funk N Waffles, the Westcott Theater, Lost Horizon and other Syracuse venues. Animal Collective named their mainstream breakout record after Merriweather Post Pavilion. And of course, who doesn’t recall New York’s famed CBGB with some measure of fond nostalgia?
So when trusted 20 Watts associate Aaron Freeder offered to shoot a short profile on the Grog Shop, what could we do but jump at the opportunity? Check it out!
OR on VIMEO!
(more…)Filed under: Summer Concerts 2010 | Tags: Cymbals Eat Guitars, earl greyhound, holy fuck, Matt and Kim, Modest Mouse, Screaming Females, siren festival photos, Siren Music Festival, Surfer Blood, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Kamara Thomas of Earl Greyhound
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 20 Watts at SIREN 2009
To Coney Island’s ever-looming gentrification and eventual decline in cool, the Village Voice’s yearly Siren Fest is a welcome spit to the eye, and 2010 was no different. Upon arriving to the festivities a bit late and taking a gander at the stacked lineup, we decided to hit (more…)
Filed under: Summer Concerts 2010 | Tags: Apache Beat, Broken Social Scene, built to spill, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Matt and Kim, Pains of Being Pure At Heart, Ponytail, Screaming Females, Surfer Blood, Ted Leo, Wye Oak
Matt and Kim
90-degree beach weather, Nathan’s hot dogs and free music all factor into a day that I’ve looked forward to for years. It’s not the 4th of July. This day comes two weeks later. The stage that’s previously hosted indie rock legends like Broken Social Scene in 2008 and Built to Spill in 2009 will be sporting sunny indie-poppers Matt and Kim and neo-punks Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.
As always, the Siren lineup is neatly stacked — this year featuring a nice mix of up-and-coming blog-buzzers like Screaming Females and Wye Oak alongside last-summer favorites like Matt & Kim and the Pains of Being Pure at Heart. In an inspired bit of scheduling, the Pains, lo-fi surf-rockers Surfer Blood and Matt & Kim will play before both the aforementioned acts on the same main stage. All of their music and live shows are energetic and fun, which bodes well for a day in the Coney Island sun.
Meanwhile the Stillwell Stage will be hosting bands arguably just as cool. Holy Fuck, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Harlem, Ponytail and Apache Beat are set to rock Stillwell, making the ever-present choice of what stage to hit when that much more difficult. The full hourly breakdown was released yesterday in anticipation of the show this Saturday, July 17. 20 Watts will be on-scene for the day and will be covering the day’s shenanigans when we aren’t taking part in them ourselves. Check out some previous free concert coverage this summer and the last time we covered Siren!
– Eric Vilas-Boas
Filed under: Concert Stories | Tags: 2080, All Hour Cymbals, ambling alp, Anand Wilder, Chris Keating, Converse, Delicate Steve, Governor's Island, Keepaway, O.N.E., ONE, summer 2010 coverage, Yeasayer
Yeasayer
PREVIEW: VISIT Yeasayer’s website!
Summer spirits soar when the entertainment’s free and the entertainment strive to be indie rock legends. Such was the case this past weekend at Governor’s Island when Delicate Steve, Keepaway and headliner Yeasayer took the Converse stage as part of the Converse-sponsored, mostly free “Gone to Governors” series.
“This must be the most remixed song ever,” Yeasayer frontman Chris Keating said before the group launched into a charged rendition of their signature song “O.N.E.” The crowd responded by blowing up with pop-and-locks, cheers and continuing to toss around a beach ball that had previously hit Keating in the face.
“O.N.E.” and show-closer “Ambling Alp” highlighted Yeasayer’s set, one whose first half progressed too slowly for my tastes. Whether it was Keating’s mostly affectless (more…)
Filed under: Issue 22 | Tags: 7/4 Shoreline, All to All, Almost Crimes, Amy Millan, Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl, Best of the Decade, Brendan Canning, Broken Social Scene, Broken Social Scene Presents, Emily Haines, Feel Good Lost, Forgiveness Rock Record, Kevin Drew, Leslie Feist, Something for All of Us..., Spirit If..., World Sick, You Forgot It in People
20 Watts tallies up the discography of Broken Social Scene!
Part of our Issue 22 coverage!
PREVIEW: Click on the links below to learn more about these albums and access music from Broken Social Scene
When defining Broken Social Scene, only three words really do justice: indie rock pioneers. In the past decade, the 15+-member band has almost single-handedly reshaped the indie rock scene through their innovative yet extremely accessible music. After only three LP’s and a handful of EP’s and side albums, Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning and the gang are finally releasing their fourth full-length album five years after their last record, Broken Social Scene. Although the new album, Forgiveness Rock Record (more…)
Filed under: Issue 22 | Tags: 2Pac, an introduction to ellie goulding, bird and whale, brazilian indie folk, Brian Oblivion, crushin' feelings, Cults, Dr. Dre, Ellie Goulding, Freddie Gibbs, gay singles, go outside, good kisser, hip-hop, Hunx and his punx, Interscope Records, karin dreijer andersson, Lights, Madeline Follin, Matador Records, midwestgangstaboxframecadillacmuzik, Old Folks (New Year), Outkast, Rosie and Me, Str8 Killa No Filla, teardrops on my telephone, The Knife, The Ramones, tupac
Brazilian folk artists are just one act in the latest edition of 20 Watts' FIVE, the FIVE acts you need to hear now! Read more here!
Part of our Issue 22 coverage!
PREVIEW: Click on the links below to access music and learn even more about these bands!
If you thought the best genres Brazil produced were metal (Sepultura), Bossa nova (Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto) and tropicalia (Os Mutantes), we’ve got two words for you: indie folk.
Mostly bypassing the obvious Brazilian influences, Rosie and Me sound more like an American (more…)
Filed under: Issue 22 | Tags: Adam YOung, Architecture in Helsinki, Ben Gibbard, Dntel, evan paschke, Fireflies, Freelance Whales, Give Up, indie pop, Jimmy Tamborello, Owl City, owl shitty, Passion Pit, pop, the Postal Service
Owl City
Part of our Issue 22 coverage!
PREVIEW: CLICK here to check out Owl City‘s website.
Adam Young likes being cute. Really cute. Consider this lyric from his chart-topping smash-hit “Fireflies”: “I get a thousand hugs / from ten thousand lightning bugs.” However, if you do the math on that saccharine gem of Owl City lyricism, it comes out to 1/10th of a hug per lightning bug. Given the size of said insect, I think most of us would prefer something a little more substantial. All math aside, the Minnesota native Young has stormed the globe with a blend of major label buzz and controversial compositions. Check out these bands and get back to us: you might get an idea of why everyone’s so fired up about Owl City. (more…)
Filed under: Issue 22 | Tags: American Ghetto, anthony saffrey, Butthole Surfers, Censored Colors, Coachella Festival, cool keith, cornershop, Ghostface Killah, Grizzly Bear, John Baldwin Gourley, limp bizkit, Minus the Bear, Portugal. The Man, rob swift, rx bandits, sasquatch music festival, Satanic Satanist, The Beatles, tjinder singh, Vampire Weekend, veckatimest, Westcott Theater, x-ecutioners
John Baldwin Gourley of Portugal. The Man sat down with 20 Watts for a nice long chat. Here's what he had to say!
Part of our Issue 22 coverage!
PREVIEW: Click to access music and more info on Portugal. The Man!
Experimental indie rockers Portugal. The Man started out in Alaska in 2004 and have since released five studio albums and played countless shows, including one at Syracuse’s Westcott Theater last year. Coming off the release of their latest album American Ghetto, Portugal. The Man frontman John Baldwin Gourley agreed to talk with 20 Watts for a nice, long Q&A session.
20 Watts: In a short amount of time, you guys have amassed a pretty impressive catalogue. Some might even make the comparison to The Beatles… What’s been your favorite album that you guys have recorded so far?
John Gourley: Well, I know this is going to sound silly but every time we go into the studio I say that I’m (more…)
