During rowjimmy.com’s little “break” since Festival 8, there was a little thing that we like to call Phish Fall Tour 2009. Your lovable and reliable bloggers (sophist and rowjimmy) managed to take in a couple shows apiece and listen to the rest diligently. Someone’s got to do it, right? So now, we present to you a run down of the entire tour, night by night, for your entertainment and reference.
So many albums, so little motivation to blog ’em all… We’ve been through my top ten albums but there were several that missed the cut for that list. Today we’ll run down a few of those (in no particular order.)
This 2-LP compilation was assembled by to benefit the Red Hot Organization and features a who’s who of the indie rock scene. David Byrne, Feist, Bon Iver, The National, The Decemberists, The Arcade Fire, Conor Oberst, Riceboy Sleeps, Iron & Wine, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and more contribute a wide ranging but cohesive collection of songs. Grab this and throw it on your iPod and whether you play it straight through or ride the shuffle this one is bound to please.
Wordless and entrancing, this side venture from Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi Birgisson features less of the Icelandic bombast and more subtle textures. Any fan of Sigur Rós or ambient music should check this out for a fascinating piece of middle ground.
More after the jump…
It’s that time again where every music blogger on these here intertubes sorts his iTunes by year and selects their favorite albums of the year. Naturally, we at rowjimmy.com wouldn’t want to miss out on that so we’ve come out of hibernation to give you our obligatory list.
This dreamy collaboration between Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and Collections of Colonies of Bees began several years ago but didn’t get recorded until late last year. Merge Vernon’s low key vocal style with a bit of quiet, electronic, math rock and you get a striking, contemplative record that is hard to ignore.
Largely acoustic with occasional bouts of electric guitars, percussion and more, this record firmly cements the singer songwriter atop the heap of the current crop of folkies. Check this out on a snowbound Sunday morning.
Even before its release, I might have guessed that this record would make this year’s list but I had no idea that it would be such a dark throwback to the earlier bizarreness o the Lips. Instead of easing up the popular path laid by “Yoshimi” and “Mystics” the band re-explored its history and produced a record of marvelous cacophony, melody, and heart with less of the slick, overdriven, nonsense (“Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” anyone?) If you are a Flaming Lips fan that likes anything prior to “Yoshimi” you should dig into this record.
More after the jump…
For those of you playing along at home, Festival 8 has begun…
The campgrounds are open, The Bunny is on the air and they even played a soundcheck last night.
I’m not there but I’ll be following closely from home (and wherever else I go this weekend) and I thought I’d offer up a few links and whatnot so that you too, the random reader of this oft-neglected blog, can stay informed.
So… Campgrounds. As you probably know, the campgrounds are named for albums that remain on the Phish Festival Eight site. If you are avoiding knowing the albums at all, don’t click on this link HERE. that’s a pdg of the festival map. It’s pretty sweet.
As for The Bunny(!) they’re live from the site now and will be doing so all weekend. Their website features a spot for requests and a twitter stream so you can follow the action.
Now, if you want to hear the Phish sets, your best bet is to fire up your Sirius/XM radio and… What? You don’t have a satellite radio subscription? Me neither. Head over to their website and hook up a free, online, streaming 7-day demo. then tune in at the following times:
Update: Sirius/XM streaming is during the sets ONLY. They do not stream The Bunny at all and they do not start at the times shown on their schedule. Tune in at the set times posted below. This is the best capacity stream for the sets.
Actual set times are as follows (these are Pacific Time):
7:30PM Set 1
10:00PM Set 2
3:00PM Set 1
7:30PM The Halloween Set
10:00PM Set 3
12:00PM Acoustic Set
5:30PM Set 2
8:30PM Set 3
Otherwise, The Bunny is streaming in a more limited capacity. Phish.net has the scoop on that here. (By the way, have you checked out the new Phish.net? It’s great. )
Update! Now you can stream it via LivePhish Radio!
Follow setlists via Phish’s website here.
This being the 21st Century, Twitter has got more info that you need. Check the #Phish and #Fest8 tags. You can follow rowjimmy.com on twitter as well and I’ll try to keep folks abreast of any points of interest that I hit upon during the weekend. Look for updates after the jump.
Oh, and Happy Halloween!
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With Joy, Phish returns to the studio with producer Steve Lillywhite (Billy Breathes) and caps off their return from the indefinite dark time since they ‘broke up’ in 2004. They’re older, wiser, healthier, and more optimistic than on 2004s Undermind and it shows. Life hasn’t always been easy for the past five years but there are good things around us all and Phish has decided to show us the way.
“Backwards Down The number Line” is a perfect distillation of a jamband pop-rock song. Catchy melody merged with interwoven instruments and a solo that gives chills. Reminiscent of the ecstatic, melodies in a Summer ’97 “Gin” jam with a touch of early 70s Dickey Betts, this solo is worth the price of admission. The lyric may be a tad syrupy but syrupy is not territory that Phish has mined heavily in the past so it’s not as if we should be sick of it, yet. They go there several times on this record and come out with some delightful gems. If “BDTNL” was too syrupy, “Stealing Time From The Faulty Plan” responds with a bit of a punch in the face. Opening with tension, driven by a pounding piano and ripping guitar riff (“machine-gun Trey” makes an appearance on the solo,) this song has a strong yet abstract lyric that is open to enough interpretation to keep the fans guessing.
The title track follows with a delicate introduction and a moving lyric. “Joy” is connected to Anastasio’s sister’s recent passing from cancer. Such a topic could leave a listener wrapped in grief but this tune turns sadness into inspiration. In life, if you encounter someone who is hurting, it can be a challenge to reach out with empathy and lift them up. Phish would not be my first guess of bands that could do so in song; until now. Continue reading