Awkward Musical Situations and A Band from Iceland

So, sometimes, when you are a music writer, like I am... you are forced to attend shows by yourself.

It's a lonely and awkward time for the first 10 minutes, but more often than not, I tend to find someone to shoot the shit with, or pretend to flirt with at least.

Last week, I had quite the evening of shows ahead of me.  I saw 3 bands at 2 different venues.   The first show, I attended with a group of friends, and it was enjoyable to say the least.  After the set was over, I jetted off around the corner to the next venue to see 2 more bands play (one of whom I was reviewing).

It was a Thursday night, and it was 1130 pm.  I was getting to that point where the tiredness becomes grumpiness and awkwardness expressed on my face and in my body language.  I was this sluggish mess of my prior self.  It happens to all of us, I know it does (or at least that's what I tell myself).

Reflecting back on my body positioning, I must have looked pained and strained to anyone in my vicinity.  This is an odd look to have at a music performance.  Ooops, my bad.

I don't really try to disconcert others from coming up to me, but it just happens sometimes.  Even when I was younger, strangers in the street would tell me to smile, cheer up, wake up, the works I tell you.  In response, I learned to tell them that saying something like that to a downright stranger was in fact going to make said stranger feel worse.  And then, I just started walking around with either a forced smile on my face, or with wide doe eyes, just so people would stop bothering me.  ...Analyze me later, please, read the rest of this now.

Long story short, I'm sure you are wondering where is the music bit of this whole post?

So I got approached by this very very tall person.  He was so tall, I could almost not hear him speak to me.  After about 5 minutes of awkward conversation, attempting to talk loudly enough above the music, and my being on my tiptoes and such, you would think this man would have given up.

Alas, but no!  He did not, and hung out next to me for the rest of the evening.

IT WAS AWKWARD.  I had thought that I was perfectly portraying one of those sullen, dreary moods that most people would be deterred from, rather than encouraged by.  Not this man.  Apparently my attitude and body language was a welcome challenge?

Now, I am not complaining.  He was good looking and charming in that awkward manner.

But, later on, we ran into 2 of his extremely wastedly drunken friends.  They proceeded to gush about his musical stylings and incredible bass playing, like he was the God of Williamsburg.

I had thought that things could not be more awkward...but they quickly became so.

Why do people think that it is charming to brag about a friend to one of said friend's new friends/romantic interests?  IT'S JUST AWKWARD.  Especially if they are saying that he is the. best. musician. ever.

I guess they didn't know they were talking to a person who writes music reviews.  I should have said something.  But, I was exhausted.

On that note, a band that I really really really like right now, that probably is one of the best bands coming from their country at the moment, is Feldberg, from Iceland.  My friend Chuck manages them, and they just won the best song of the year award at the Iceland Music Awards this past Saturday.

They are a combo of singer/songwriter/laptop jockey Eberg (Einar Tonsberg) and his eerily beautifully voiced a la 1920s early Jazz era Rosa Isfeld.  Essentially, they have this whole ephemeral feel, what one might call an icy and cloudy like sound.


Feldberg uses electro, experimental, and folk tones to create dream-like, swimmingly pleasant stories through vocals and melodies.  I'd like to think that their music is best suited for a flight above Iceland, peering down at the landscape below.


Yeah, weird right?  I know.  But listen to their album, it's awesome.

Check them out here: www.myspace.com/feldbergmusic

Who would've thought this would or could be 100% compostable?

So, early this afternoon, I was minding my own business in my neighborhood organic bodega, conveniently located on the corner of my block.

I had gone with the sole intention of buying some dish washing soap and bananas, then hurriedly walking back to my apartment to shower post a run and yoga session.  In case you weren't aware, it is 65 degrees fahrenheit and sunny here in Brooklyn/New York today.

I am elated to experience Spring, as I have never had this season before.  Chicago does not have a spring, but a mind blowing leap from below 30 temperatures up to the mid 50s for less than a month, to a scorching 85 and 85% humidity for the entirety of the summer (thus, why I no longer live there).

LA is hot and dry most of the year (except for the torrential downpour, flooding, and mudslides I so inconveniently found myself in the last time I was there).

But New York.  Oh New York.  Spring has sprung, mind you, relatively early, and it is probably my new, most favorite season of all.  To wake up one morning, bathed in sunshine and warmth, after the prior day having been windy and gray, and to have this happen multiple days in a row, when least expected, is a most joyous sensation.

But, back to the bodega/grocery store.  The teller was talking about how expensive tomatoes were currently (probably due to transportation costs and not being season and such, duh).  While I was waiting for him to finish, out of the corner of my eye, high on top of a shelf, I saw a big sign printed in yellow on the top of a chip bag.

Now 100% Compostable.

I thought to myself, really?  And then saw that the bag was a Sun Chips bag.

Now historically, Sun Chips have been some of the healthier chip choices, even before the baked not fried craze, and the multigrain/fiber craze.

But little did I know they were innovative as well?

For those of you who don't know what composting is, it is essentially the decomposing of living materials to make fertilizer.  Many people have compost piles in their yard, where they place their unused food scraps, and then add microbes to break the pile down to make into their own soil enhancers.  It's pretty nifty if you ask me!

Anywho, apparently now if you are Sun Chip fan, buying the chips and eating them won't leave any bag to waste after all.   Simply throw it in your compost, or your neighborhood's compost (sometimes, neighborhoods have these).

If you want to get in on this easy and fun environmental activity, the lovely (bahahaha) Environmental Protection Agency has a site where you can find your closest pile.

http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/rrr/composting/live.htm

Sun Chips has a great site promoting environmentalism and education too.

http://www.sunchips.com/healthier_planet.shtml


Party on Sun Chips!!!

~peace

eb

A newfound respect for an indie band gone mainstream

A few weeks ago, I found myself at Barnes and Noble's Union Square store, a 4 story massive flagship type store, overlooking the city in all of its bookish and cafe glory. Indie bookstore like Blue Stocking on the Lower East Side or McNally Jackson in Soho it may not be, but hard it does try!

How you say? Well, they have this free monthly series entitled Upstairs at the Square (Catchy, eh?) that pairs a buzz band with an author or poet. I attended last month's with Vampire Weekend and Jamaican poet Kwame Dawes, and to be honest, walked in there with a cynical mindset and smirk on my face.

An hour and a half and a massive crowd, ranging in age from 15-75, later, I walked out with a completely different sentiment about Vampire Weekend.

Why? Well, at first glance, their Columbia University education finally shone through. These guys are intelligent, intellectual, articulate, and compassionate. And, they were playing a stripped down set, and had quite the back and forth dynamic with the poet.

They spoke of Contra's (their new album) influences in music like that from the Caribbean and Africa, and of the power of poetry and the written word to influence modern music. They also addressed how even though they themselves were not of these countries or histories, they still felt like they could use this influence in their music to create powerful and meaningful pieces. They said that their experiences from the outside were valuable in and of themselves.

So this is why I feel like it might be necessary to announce my newfound respect for an indie band gone mainstream.

Vampire Weekend are more deserving of their widespread popularity, if not only for their likeable music, but for their intellectualism and honesty. Hopefully, their fans will learn about why and how VW's music matters rather than simply listening for listening pleasure.

Check out Contra, their new album, and get yourself to Coachella Music and Arts Festival to see them live! (also, look at the songs of the month to the left to see their hilarious new video with Jake Gyllenhaal and Joe Jonas and Lil Wayne)

peace

~eb

Could the best kept secrets be our newest hopes?

For the past decade, Silicon Valley has been brewing something other than tech start ups and crashes (and of course, Facebook fanaticism).

Today, Bloom Energy unveiled what it has been developing over the past 10 years, in the Silicon Valley of California; but this time, it's an alternative energy technology so exciting, and so private, that companies like Google and Bank of America already have it (Wal-Mart too, but I'm still on the fence about Arkansas).

Essentially, the issue is this: fuel cells are expensive, and burn fuels and materials that are expensive. This is the most basic way of explaining why they have not been made more pervasive over the past few years. They also are not (as of now, this day) perfected. This is inevitable with a newer technology!

Bloom Energy, a secretive start up headed by an ex-NASA Mars project employee and scientist, supposedly has found a way to allow fuel cells to not only run at higher temperatures, with cheaper materials and catalysts, but also to enable through these changes, a decrease in overall greenhouse gas emissions.

They will be made for businesses and homes, and are meant to decrease our energy bills and costs, both to individuals and the environment around us.

Sound too good to be true? Maybe. We'll have to see over the next day, weeks, months, and year. The thing is, from a publicity standpoint, their secretiveness and their selective interactions were a business development move of genius.

They've already got 3 huge corporations that "power" (teehee) our economy who have installed and currently use the product. They've got a press conference with Schwarzenneger and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. They've got The New York Times covering their unveiling, real time, on its blog.

And with an expected 3 year payback period (hello, that's teeny tiny), I am hoping for some more good things to come from Silicon Valley (besides my new MacBook Pro that I am typing this on of course).

Check out other exciting Green news on the NY Times blog:
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com

peace

~eb

So I saw an absolutely delectably delicious band perform last night at The Mercury Lounge on the Lower East Side of New York. They were called Hymns.

In stark contrast, their songs had very little religious fervor (rather I believed that one of the musicians in particular had his own special fervor for an energizing drug of sorts), and were like The Beatles meets The Strokes (think Julian Casablancas) meets I don't know, attractive, sweaty, long haired, stupidly smiling, bouncing about the stage men of our generation that we like to refer to as dirty hipsters?

And in reference to the dirty hipsters...I like those. A lot. Add a mustache and I'm done for.

But seriously, I haven't felt myself truly let go to incredible sonic compositions and energy and pure musicality like that of Hymns for about a year now (sad, I know, this is what happens when music starts paying your bills, beware!!).

They've got a killer stage presence, great chemistry together, and a horn and saxophone player sometimes too. What else could you ask for, really? Tight jeans you say? Yep that's there too.

I'll stop my virtual drooling now.

myspace.com/hymns

peace from snowy BK

~eb

Earthships

What a terrible name for what should be a ridiculously successful, entirely off-the-grid home. Haiti will be needing quite a few of these...look up Michael Reynolds, the architect and creator, who has been doing these for 30+ years in the middle of nowhere New Mexico, and now, all over the world in developing countries. What if you had no power, water, or any energy bills whatsoever? Also, check out the documentary on the whole project, Garbage Warrior, by Oliver Hodge. This Reynolds dude is self-deprecating...just the way I like them.

peace

~eb

Musical Updates for your New Year

Wow, could I be more tired of the question(s): What is your favorite song, artist, and album of the decade? I’m sorry, what kind of bullshit question is this?

I mean, it’s a pseudo “music intellectual” type question, and I suppose some people are just trying to make conversation, but at the end of the day, why is anyone equating a 10-year period of a lunar calendar to the value of music in such a general scope. Please!!!!!????

As if anyone even has the right to judge anyone else’s perspective on this. And the arguments about Pitchfork vs. Rolling Stone vs. anyone else’s list of top 100 of the decade, they are just bashing the whole thing into the ground.

How can there be a best artist, song, album, etc with so many different genres and styles and events and geographic locations affecting music globally? I think best may be my least favorite word.

Maybe this is because I was never really “the best” at anything. I never had the insatiable urge to be the best. And to that point, why does there need to be a best?

In honor of this psychological analysis, I am presenting to you some of the most enjoyable rather than best indie music on the scene most currently for your listening and concert going pleasures.

Real Estate (New Jersey to Brooklyn baby) www.myspace.com/realestate

Feldberg (Iceland, ooowwee!) www.myspace.com/feldbergmusic

Hey Champ! (Chi-town) www.myspace.com/heychamp

The Antlers (Brooklyn but of course) www.myspace.com/theantlers

Fools Gold (La La land) www.myspace.com/foolsgold

The Sound of Arrows (Sweden bahahaha) www.myspace.com/thesoundofarrows

She and Him (Zooey Deschanel's folkey band, based in LA) www.myspace.com/sheandhim

Girls (Bay Areaaaaa) www.myspace.com/girls

Crayon Fields (Melbourne, Down Under) www.myspace.com/thecrayonfields

Check them all out in the songs of the week playlist to your right. Or go catch a show in your area ☺ with or without me but of course!

peace and happy 2010

~eb