Matthew Wendus August 8th, 2007
Spoon
We arrived at Pimlico around 2:00 in the afternoon; a couple of songs into Matisyahu’s set on the South Stage. The bearded Hasidic reggae artist extraordinaire had already drawn a sizeable crowd by the time I arrived. Matisyahu has gained fame for being a novelty act for sure, but the man can certainly dish out rhyme and groove. His beatboxing on “Late Night In Zion” was the highlight of his set, dropping several jaws in the audience.
During the instrumental bridge on one of his songs, the lithe Matisyahu scampered up a stack of speakers to the right of the stage and clung to the scaffolding, waving out to the crowd. This was probably the most prominent stage antic I witnessed on stage prior to seeing Yeah Yeah Yeahs perform on the North Stage later that day. For the most part, the artists were complacent and weren’t keen on leaping into the crowd, spitting blood, or busting their instruments. After hearing a few songs, my next destination was the North Stage to catch Spoon.
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Matthew Wendus August 7th, 2007
Three months after purchasing the tickets, the Virgin Fest date had pulled up to the driveway. My colleague and I had all we needed and departed somewhat late, inevitably causing us to miss Fountains of Wayne (something I wasn’t too concerned about). We were about fifteen minutes down the stretch of 95 between DC and Baltimore when Eddie Money’s “Two Tickets to Paradise” came on the radio. My colleague suddenly says “oh shit, the tickets!” I suppose Eddie Money finally did some good in the world by prompting a spark of memory and preventing two concert-goers from embarrassed idiocy at the gates.
Our arrival at Pimlico was greeted by instant sweat and a lot of people on the sidewalk selling a lot of shit at ridiculous prices. Pimlico Race Track is best known as the home of the Preakness Stakes, the shortest leg of the Triple Crown. That’s all I ever care to know about the venue. I reveled in the idea that this lightning rod for yuppie starched collars and people who give a shit about horseracing was destined to become a haven for freaks, bad beer, loud music, and a lot of weed during the weekend of August 4th.
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Brandi H. June 14th, 2007
Seattle, WA - A Long, Long Time Ago @ Neumo’s (June 1st)
Unfortunately we were really late for All Smiles due to shows starting early and on time these days in Seattle. Also, I felt trapped at the dive bar across the street listing to some mangled-looking, old-man-river guy talk to me about the history of plumbing. He started the timeline over 2800 years ago when King Minos of Crete created the first flushing water closet complete with a wooden seat and everything. I was like, fuck, how are we gonna cover 2800 years of plumbing in ten minutes? But not wanting to be rude and perhaps needing a “safety” piece of ass sometime in the future, we powered though it.
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usounds June 1st, 2007
Usounds writers Scott Roots and SnuggleBot (Jared Fiechtner) head to George, Washington for the 6th annual Sasquatch Music Festival. They wanted to keep a journal to document the weekend…what they end up with is more important than all of the world’s newborn infants.
DAY 1, SATURDAY
9:30 am, SR: Sasquatch 07. It begins. Our anxiousness is palpable. Snuggle Bot is running slow on sleep, but the needle points to F as far as his excitement is concerned. Sasquatch is jamming a car with people and stuff and driving two or three hours to a big field to drink with ten thousand people that all could be your new friends, more or less. Sasquatch is sitting, standing, and not much in between. Sasquatch is weed brownies. For me, last year’s ‘Quatch was tarnished by a bad back that translated into a bad attitude. That’s why now, as I sit left nut in Holly’s ‘92 Cavalier, I am so ready to turn this year’s festival on its head. Jared asks, “Are those cows tiny or are they just far away? They look like little dogs.” As the urban jungle of Seattle gives way to the rolling hills and “little cows” of rural Washington, I let the pre ‘Quatch energy run over me. Picture it like I’m walking through a car wash and it’s set to “pre-’Quatch with wax”.
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Mary Mulholland March 19th, 2007
Photo by Laura Musselman taken at Easy Street Records in Seattle, WA 3/17/06
Crocodile Cafe
Seattle, WA
March 17, 2007
Let’s spend it all like sailors, babe, and pretend we just got paid…
The brief history of Philadelphia quintet Dr. Dog has been an extraordinarily lucky one. After their home-recorded 2004 album Toothbrush caught the attention of Jim James, he invited them along on tour with My Morning Jacket. Since then, Dr. Dog has toured with The Strokes, The Raconteurs and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, and has garnered mainstream praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, SPIN and The New York Times.
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Scott Roots January 22nd, 2007
Photo by Joshc
Neumo’s
Seattle, WA January 19, 2007
When Stephen Malkmus comes to town, and you like indie rock, just go to the show. Okay? Malkmus started with a unique sound nearly two decades ago and has stayed that way…he is a statue of confidence and consistency in a sea of silly little fads.
Baby C’mon mp3
(Do Not Feed The) Oyster mp3
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usounds January 11th, 2007
Danger and Cee Lo contemplate dumping some dead bodies in the river after taking some ‘ludes
Gnarls Barkley will be playing at the Grammys on February 11th. Gbark are up for record of the year along with three other awards including the highly coveted record of the century for this solar system*.
*includes the four rocky bodies near the sun (inner planets) but not the small icy bodies known as the Kuiper belt because seriously, f those guys.
Werid Al vs. Gnarls Myspace Friend Update:
Gnarls: 317,914
Weird Al: 398,653
usounds March 8th, 2006
In support of their most recent release, No Disassemble, Slow Runner has just announced that they are going on tour with Say Anything. Don’t know Slow Runner? Read their awkward bio.
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usounds February 24th, 2006
Our new BFF at Cornerstone Promotion has an amazing promo-only Built to Spill CD that will not be sold in stores called, Built To Spill - Time Trap (1994-2006). The CD itself is a compilation of select songs from all of their albums, from 1994 all the way to their new album, You In Reverse, which will be released on April 11, 2006.
Send USOUNDS a picture of yourself and Doug Martsch and/or Built to Spill chillin’ out together. If you don’t have one, (or maybe it has been misplaced?) use the miracle that is Photoshop. The two best pictures will win a copy of Built To Spill – Time Trap. Please send all entries to usounds@gmail.com.
myspace.com/builttospill
