@Rest: aaron rester's blog

No band I've ever seen has more fun on stage than the Decemberists. I've seen them four or five times over the last couple of years, and it's always obvious that they are having an absolute ball. I had the chance to see them twice over this weekend, at Wheaton College on Halloween and then the next night at University of Chicago.

The Halloween show was a classic. It opened with a reenactment of "The Shining," with singer Colin Meloy pedaling a Big Wheel onto the stage to be met by the creepy twins of drummer John Moen and bassist Nate Query (whom Meloy noted were likely the first two cross-dressers ever to appear on stage at famously conservative Wheaton College's Edman Memorial Chapel).


With a setlist tailored to the evening, the highlight of the night was a version of "Shankill Butchers" featuring Jenny Conlee playing the chapel's massive pipe organ. If you listen to the recording, you'll hear the band launch next into "Culling of the Fold," but I wasn't able to record the whole thing, since during his frenzied stalking of the stage, Meloy reached out and grabbed my iPhone as I was trying to take a picture of him (my wife made me promise I'll never wash it again).


The following night's show was a bit less inspired -- maybe it was the crowd of "Where Fun Comes to Die" students, or maybe it was just that we had to sit for part of the show instead of being right up at the front of the stage -- but it was still great. The highlight of the U of C show was when Meloy grabbed a fan's video camera and created an on-the-fly Public Service Announcement (the PSA starts about 5 minutes in). And they finished with a rousing -- and inspiring -- version of "Sons and Daughters" that had everyone in the crowd singing along.

Labels: music, reviews

(Last Friday I published a review of the 10/2 Beck show on the Lost Cartographers' blog -- figured I'd cross-post it here.)

For your average rock show, last night's sold-out Beck show at the Aragon Ballroom was pretty damn good. There was an energetic crowd, a mix of old hits and new material, and very loud guitars. The thing is, Beck is not your average rock star. As one of the most consistently innovative artists of the last 15 years (Jesus, I feel old writing that), when you go to see Beck, you expect the unexpected: maybe some puppets, or entire songs played on dinnerware, or at least a little break-dancing. But aside from a three-song acoustic break and a slightly embarrassing borderline minstrel-show hip-hop bit in which all five band members grabbed head sets and drum machines and did everything but tell the lily-white crowd to throw their guns in the air and wave 'em like they just don't care, last night's show was essentially a straight-ahead stadium rock extravaganza. The only accoutrements in evidence were a giant projection screen in the background (featuring what appeared to be someone's senior thesis in abstract expressionist film) and some nifty lights not unlike those Tom Petty brought to the United Center a couple months ago. Hell, Beck is even starting to look a little like Tom Petty. Don't get me wrong: I love Tom Petty, and it was fun hearing rocked-out versions of old favorites like "Loser" and "Where It's At," but I expected more interesting stage antics -- or at least a little amusing banter -- from someone I'm not embarassed to refer to as a visionary. Of course, this hard-rock minimalism may just be the latest in Beck's endless stream of transformations -- but it's certainly the least interesting one yet.

Labels: music, reviews

Over on the Lost Cartographers' new blog, I've posted four potential album cover designs for our debut CD, "Walk On." Use the comments section there to tell us which one you like the best, and you could win a free copy of the CD once it's released!

Labels: design, lostcartographers, music

The Lost Cartographers have hit the (kinda, sorta, in our minds at least) big-time. We'll be playing Chicago's legendary Empty Bottle on May 4 -- our biggest show yet, taking place on the same stage where famous acts like the Flaming Lips once played. As part of the Bottle's new "$3 Sunday" series, we'll be joined by old-school country troubadors the Long Gone Lonesome Boys and singer-songwriter Heather Perry (whose drummer happens to be an old bandmate of mine from my freshman year at Oberlin). The show starts at 9pm and the cover is, unsurprisingly, $3 (you can buy tickets in advance).

Labels: lostcartographers, music

He's back.

Amitabh (he needs two names about as much as Jesus does) has had many jobs over the years: Angry Young Man, (disgra--er, retired) Member of Parliament, original host of the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?", Bollywood's Elder Statesman-cum-Answer to Chuck Norris... and now, future Prime Minister of the United States. You might remember the abortive 2004 campaign by the guys over at Badmash to get him elected president (I still regret not buying an "Amitabh for America" t-shirt), but they're apparently changing tactics this time around by making him run for a different office entirely. When Gabbar Singh calls at 3am, isn't this the man you want answering the phone? He makes McCain (look like Ralph Wiggum).

Of course, to me, Amitabh will always be Anthony Gonzalves, erstwhile drunk and Christian hero of possibly the greatest movie ever made.. In honor of the upcoming Easter holiday, please see this clip as proof that while Barack Obama may sound like Lincoln, only Amitabh can pull off the stovepipe hat.

(Want to hear my remix of this song? Check out my music page or my GarageBand page.)

Labels: bollywood, music, wtf

A couple of weeks ago, I posted about being mentioned on one of favorite podcasts, Freelance Radio. Well, I am feeling the Freelance Radio love once again -- "Walk On" by the Lost Cartographers was selected as the outro music for Episode 10. Thanks again to the crew over at Freelance Radio for the shout-out and for all their excellent work.

Labels: lostcartographers, music, podcasts

Last Saturday, fellow Lost Cartographer Gabrielle Schafer and I played a short three-song acoustic set at the Charleston as the guests of the Long Gone Lonesome Boys. Aside from being incredibly nice guys, the Boys put on an amazing show, and the LGLBs' John Milne was kind enough to give me a copy of their second cd, "Lonesome Time." While the disc doesn't quite capture the fun and energy of their live set, you should check it out if you enjoy 50s and 60s country along the lines of the Louvin Brothers or anything from Sun Records. Like fellow Chicagoan Robbie Fulks, the LGLBs provide this classic material with wicked wit and a decidedly 21st-century twist (e.g. one of their songs is called "www.lonesome.com," and features the line "tired of Googling porn/and playing with my flugelhorn"). If you can catch them live, by all means do so -- but if you can't, you should pick up this record.

Labels: lostcartographers, music, recommendations

Ok, it's about a month too late for "best of " lists, and the idea of "best albums" seems so 20th-century in this Age of Shuffle. But I still wanted to note some of my favorites from this year.

Surprisingly, some of my favorite bands' eagerly anticipated new albums didn't make the cut (Arcade Fire, the Shins, Wilco). Instead, my list is headed by two bands I found out about just this year:

• The Broken West: "I Can't Go On, I'll Go On" - Americana/roots rock a la Tom Petty, but full of pure pop sunshine.
  
• O'Death: "Head Home" - Saw these guys at the Hideout Block Party. Full-on country-punk madness from this New York band.
  
• Modest Mouse: "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" - The one highly anticipated album that actually lived up to the hype.
• Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: "Raising Sand" - I never thought I'd like anything Robert Plant did this much, but these are beautiful songs.
  
• Josh Ritter: "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (with Bonus EP)" - My Oberlin College classmate finally starts rockin' out.
  

Labels: music, recommendations

Take a look at this:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/army-seeks-prof.html

Perhaps the Lost Cartographers should apply. I'm pretty sure our bassist Karl is a "recognizable celebrity nationally or internationally." And at least they'd give us body armor.

Labels: lostcartographers, music, wtf

My Roscoe Village apartment and the University where I work are only about 8 miles apart, as the crow flies. Somehow, though, I manage to spend nearly three hours a day trapped in the belly of the beast known as the Chicago Transit Authority, or CTA. In between doomsday scenarios and derailments, I've used my daily public transportation sentence to get a fair amount of reading done. In the last couple of years, though, much of my commuting time has been spent listening to podcasts. Here's a quick guide to some of my favorites, listed by topic:

Music:

Paste Culture Club - Paste is almost my perfect music magazine: heavy does of alt.country/americana and indie rock, with occasional forays into underground hip-hop and the just-plain-weird. While they may throw in a few too many earnestly mediocre singer-songwriters, I'll take that any day over the Frankenstein's monster Rolling Stone has become -- the reanimated corpses of Boomer nostalgia acts steered by the criminally insane brain of top-40 teen-pop (shudder). Paste's biweekly podcast features full-length songs, interviews, and news about new releases.

Sound Opinions - Featuring Chicago's own major-paper rock critics, "The World's Only Rock-and-Roll Talk Show" was on WXRT when I moved to town, and has since moved to Chicago Public Radio. I'm pretty sure it's one of the only shows on public radio where you'll ever hear people wax on about the talents of Ghostface Killah.


Design:

Design Matters - Sterling Brands' Debbie Millman (she designed the Burger King logo, among others) interviews some of the top designers in the field (Steven Heller, Milton Glaser, etc.), along with other cultural luminaries like Malcolm Gladwell.

Be A Design Cast - A group of young designers from (of all places) Omaha puts together this entertaining bi-weekly podcast. They too interview design big-wigs (including Debbie Millman), but don't take themselves (or much of anything, except Mountain Dew can redesigns) too seriously.

Freelance Radio - Not really a design show, but applicable to those like myself who do freelance design work. The hosts discuss things like contracts, time management techniques, and client horror stories.


Web Design:

Boagworld - Hosted by two Brits who run a web design company called Headscape. The dynamic between old friends Paul, the often-cranky designer type and Marcus, the ex-pop-star salesman/project manager is itself worth listening to the show. The fact that it's full of interesting news, reviews, and interviews is just icing on the cake.


Miscellaneous:

This American Life - Single-handedly responsible for making me a member of Chicago Public Radio, TAL is the most popular podcast on iTunes. I actually listened to all 300-plus episodes on the web before they began podcasting, which means I wait with baited breath each week to see if the lastest podcast will be a new episode or a rerun.

The Story - Kind of like TAL, but daily.

Savage Lovecast - "America's only advice columnist" Dan Savage is even funnier live than he is in his weekly column. Warning: anyone who doesn't find hilarity in the idea of elderly grandmothers inadvertently pleasuring their pet parakeets probably shouldn't listen.

So -- any suggestions for ones I should absolutely add to my list? I'm all ears.

Labels: design, music, podcasts, recommendations