@ZackTeibloom The first thing that drew me to Little Lo was the incredible interplay they have between their seven members on stage. The way Josh bounces side-to-side on his heels as he plays his bass with a smile. How Ian is often scrambling to grab the next of his many instruments, but playing each of them with aplomb. The way Bailey’s keyboard and vocals strike the perfect balance with Ryan, who leads the group with a quiet confidence and a young, budding stage presence. Don’t forget Stephanie and George filling the gaps with just the right touch on the strings, xylophone and accordion, as Sam keeps it fun, tight and energetic behind the drum kit. It’s why I can’t focus on one of them for more than 10 seconds at a time when I watch them play live. They’re all so intoxicating and they share the spotlight so well, it feels like the truest sense of a band. The kind of organic closeness that grows from living together and hanging out all the time.

That interaction made me a tad concerned to see them recording almost all their parts individually in their home studio, when they invited me in to see a day of their recording process a couple months ago. By eliminating the live element, would it miss something? Lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Ryan McGill acknowledged that was indeed a challenge, and only the third track (of 6) “Roots, Trees, Wires” was recorded almost entirely live, with horns overdubbed later. After listening to the EP over and over Wednesday, I can confidently say the whole thing captures their interplay beautifully. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Caitlin drives us down to San Antonio, knowing we were going to get to meet the legendary Earth, Wind, and Fire at Bjorn Electronics and that they were partnering with Monster Cable. That’s all we know. We get there 45 minutes early and are not on the list, so Bjorn himself lets us in. We find our way to two of maybe a couple hundred seats in this make-shift press conference room that is normally an electronics store. Wheel of Fortune: Las Vegas is playing on a couple dozen screens and I guess the first clue of “We’re just getting warmed up” and gleefully note the irony. Then I notice there’s free wine, a fruit spread and chocolate covered strawberries and load up and check out the attendees. Read the rest of this entry »

@AndyShore “Uh…do you mind standing? It’s kinda crowded in here?” I said no and paid the cover, before even looking up to see what the doorman meant by kinda crowded. The Baked Potato is a tiny bar, filled with two dozen or so tables. There is no dance floor. We pushed our way to the back by the bar, but soon realized that we would be in the way any place we stood. Almost as soon as we settled, the band weaved their way through the crowd and up onto the miniature stage. So what is OHMphrey? It’s Jake Cinninger, Kris Meyers and Joel Cummins from Umphrey’s McGee and OHM members Robertino Pagliari and Chris Poland (also of a little band you may have heard of called Megadeath). Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Before Free Press Summer Fest, I predicted what my top 10 would be. Now that it’s over and I’ve had a couple days to recover, I’ve got a list of the actual top 10 and real videos from the fest to back up my opinion. I thought I knew myself well, but high school me dominated post-college me, as Weezer blew Free Press Summer Fest away, while Ween was more of an acquired taste. Even Sharon Jones, Yeasayer and Big Boi slid ahead of pre-fest #1 Ween.

The rest were pretty much what I thought, but a little bit discombobulated. I never got to see Guitar Wolf, due to them being on the complete opposite end of the lengthwise festival and the need for pizza, but I saw the rest of my top ten and was thoroughly impressed with everyone. OK, not everyone. Limb was a train wreck, and Beirut wasn’t meant for that time slot, but the rest was a treat.

As always, we’re counting down from 10, with the previous ranking in parenthesis. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Austin’s The Boxing Lesson sends their outer space EP Muerta into the stratosphere officially today on iTunes (Buy Muerta on iTunes) and they’re in a happy place these days. My girlfriend, Caitlin, and I met Paul and Jaylinn at Peter Pan golf for 18 holes to relax and talk after a day of floating the river. If you’re wondering, yes we were still a little drunk and yes, it was hard to take notes and play mini golf at the same time, but it was a blast. At Peter Pan, they have you pick the hard or easy course. We chose the hard course, but decided to break our interview into two parts, with me taking the 9 difficult holes and Caitlin taking the easy 9 holes on Austin Writes Music.

Here’s 9 of the toughest holes The Boxing Lesson have struggled through: Warning- there is a picture of the most gruesome finger injury you’ve ever seen. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Most Weezer fans feared a show like this would never happen again. When you spend your formative years adoring a band as they go from a breakout smash, through their wildly under-appreciated follow-up album, and then watch them get further and further away from the band you loved with each subsequent album, you worry you’ll never get the band you started with. You worry that they’re  now something else entirely after 4.5 albums you rarely listen to, if you even managed to pick them up at all. Then this show happened and all hope was returned.

It’s still the Weez we know and love. This tour is for all the Weezer fans who yearn for the glory days of the Blue Album and Pinkerton, but we didn’t know what they’d do for a festival crowd. Would they play one of the two albums in order, like they have been the rest of the tour? Would they just play a normal set, without digging back into their past as much? It was a legit concern. No worries to be had. They delivered a dream set-list, packed with almost the entire Blue Album and just the right amount of everything else. In short, it was everything a Weezer fan could hope for. Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom We survived Free Press Summer Fest. Two grueling 10-hour days in the 100 degree Houston sun, but we made it through everything we wanted to see. Weezer surprised us as the best show of the festival, but we run through it all, who had the best dancers, what saved us from the heat, and what made it all feel so long. This was recorded at 3 a.m. Monday morning. Please keep that in mind. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

@ZackTeibloom Most bands will lighten up their set to make it more accessible for a festival crowd. The Dap Kings shortened their Sharon Jones intro to get right down to business. Big Boi kept the set list tight. Ween isn’t most bands. They came out dark, stayed grotesque, and gave a Ween show for Ween Nation, with only a Bowie cover and a confetti-shower finale showing any willingness to pander to the rest of the festival. Most stuck right with the show and were rewarded for it, though I must say, it was a poorly constructed set list.

Ween was the only show to go on once the brutally hot Houston sun had gone down, and they seemed determined to make darkness a theme. Starting off with “Buckingham Green,” and its heavy guitars before the first line, “A child without an eye…” it felt almost metal as green lights and smoke machines set the background for face-melting Dean Ween solos. “Spinal Meningitis” turned the show grotesque with the vivid descriptions of a child’s wailing as they undergo treatment for spinal meningitis as Gene Ween made a droopy, scared face. It was clearly time to lighten the mood with “Bananas and Blow.” Nothing like being on a cabana, doing nothing but eating bananas and doing lines to get your mind off of Spinal Meningitis, am I right? Read the rest of this entry »

@ZackTeibloom Time to break out an old Festival Crashers staple of rating the 10 shows we’re most looking forward to at a festival. It’s always fun to predict which shows will be our favorites and then see how well we know ourselves when all is said and done. At Coachella, 2010, Andy had Gorillaz #1 and they ended up not cracking his top 10 at the end. Usually we know ourselves better than that and when we expect holograms, we get holograms. I don’t see Ween falling anywhere lower than the top 3, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they aren’t top of the pops in my wrap-up. After diving into this line-up, there’s a lot to love, so honorable mentions go out to Black Joe Lewis, Neon Indian, Yppah, Fat Tony, Beirut and I can’t wait to see what comes out of Ani DiFranco’s Dick! (Not only the best band name ever, I really dug what I previewed.)

I suggest you supplement your reading with Caitlin’s hour by hour suggestions (click here) and it would really be swell if you’d listen to The Podcrash where we break down our picks (click here) I think we’re ready. As always, counting down from 10.

Read the rest of this entry »