"Try to Remember Always Just to Have a Good Time"

Finals week has come and gone, and now I'm left with a fried brain and dark circles under my eyes due to lack of sleep...

But I just got the new Panda Bear CD "Person Pitch" (which came out this week), and I'm memorized by it-- the Beach Boys-esque vocals, and textured loops make me feel like I could listen to these songs forever. These are some pretty good tunes to listen to if you just want to relax and forget about everything, which is exactly what I'm about to do for the next week. I'm headed to Cali, then Mexico for spring break, should be a blast (really anything beats the hours of calculus and organic chemistry that I've been consumed by lately).

Here's a taste of what I'll be listening to the whole time:

Panda Bear - Comfy in Nautica

Convinced? Get it at insound now.

Clipse, Chop Suey 3/12

We walked up to a packed Chop Suey, the base thumping through the busy entrance where we were promptly patted down before gaining admission, which quickly reminded me that this wouldn't be the typical hipster crowd I was used to seeing at a show. If that first hint wasn't enough, after we passed through 'security' (minus one keychain pocket knife), we squeezed through the crowd until we found a spot with a decent view of the stage behind someone who could have easily been mistaken as a White Rapper Show reject.

After a series of sub-par openers, the rabid crowd was craving Clipse like a starved dog waiting for scraps. The closer it got to 12:15 (their scheduled performance time), the less ambivalent the crowd was to the (seemingly endless) opening MCs, at times even chanting 'Clipse' between the opener's songs.

Clipse finally found the stage around 12:30, after some hype from their DJ and rolled through Hell Hath no Fury track, 'Mama I'm So Sorry' which, aside from the initial energy of their stage entrance and the electricity of the crowd, turned out to be their least inspired performance of the night. Next, they blazed through album opener, 'We Got it 4 Cheap'-- a song about their label drama and the resulting years they were forced underground. As cliche as it may sound, you could see the anger in their eyes, as they recited the verses, "It's like tryin' to fly but they clippin' your wings ; and that's exactly why the caged bird sings..." This, and almost every subsequent track that they played, had similar energy and intensity mixed into each line--I'm not joking when I say that the look on Pusha's face when he was rapping was scary.

After that, they played an altered version of 'What Happened to that Boy', almost mocking Weezy and Birdman (who they supposedly have 'beef' with--although it has been categorically denied by Malice). Their performance of the track did nothing to help the Weezy v. Clipse rumors though, throughout the song Malice annunciated the lines, "HE was talkin' shit WE put a CLAP INTO THAT BOY," almost in refrence to Weezy, while Pusha interlocked his thumbs making a bird with his hands and waving them mockingly though the air.

They also played some mixtape tracks like 'Pussy' and pulled off 'What's Up' from "We Got it 4Cheap Vol. II" flawlessly, jacking Game's beat and blowing it up with fellow Re Up Gang members Liva and Sandman. Along with the mixtape tracks, they added some Old songs including: Cot Damn, Virginia (1st encore), and Grindin (2nd encore). The highlight for me would have to be 'Wamp Wamp' which came off perfectly, and displays the duo's strength's perfectly-- an immaculate Neptunes beat coupled with Malice's incomparable flow, and Pusha's unmatched lyricism.

Clipse was firing on all cylinders all night long-- and it showed. By the end of their set they were drenched in sweat, and breathing heavily. I believe it when I hear that they are the best live act in the 'game' right now, they constantly provoked the crowd to sing along, sticking the mic in the crowd or slapping outstretched hands after trading verses. This was by far my favorite show thus far this year, and it will be hard to top--catch this concert if you still can. You won't regret it, and by the looks of things, this just might be one of the last times they play intimate venues. Good hip hop can only come out of hunger and adversity, and believe me, Clipse have kilos. of it to spare.

Setlist:
“Momma I’m So Sorry”
“We Got It for Cheap (Intro)”
“What Happened to That Boy”
“Pussy”
“Keys Open Doors”
“Cot Damn”
"What's Up"
“Ride Around Shining”
“Ain’t Cha”
“Chinese New Year”
“Wamp Wamp (What It Do)”
----------------------------
“Virginia”
“Grindin’ ”
“Mr. Me Too”

Some mixtape shit for you:

Clipse - 'What's Up'

Cop that shit at insound, and be sure to look out for their new mixtape that should be dropping soon titled, "We got it 4 Cheap Vol. III: The Spirit of Competition"

PS
In true Clipse fashion, I Re-Uped the look of the Blog after migrating to Blogger Beta. It looks a little better, with a few things added here and there (links etc...) hopefully everything still works.

Four Winds

I've heard all of the tracks off of the EP, and they're all pretty solid, but much like the last time around (as with Digital Ash/I'm Wide Awake), this initial EP is basically a single and 5 B-Sides. The 'single' here is titled 'Four Winds' and will be on the full length "Cassadaga" out on April 10th on Saddle Creek Records. It's not any surprise (based on his most recent releases) that Conor is definitely on a path toward alt country/folk, leaving behind the introspective stylings of his back catalogue-- I like what I hear.
Listen for yourself:

Bright Eyes - Four Winds

Buy Cassadaga and Four Winds at Insound

ALSO:
I just decided to hit up the Clipse show tomorrow in Seattle, should be mindblowing... more on that later.

Annuals 2/27 @ Neumos, Seattle

After listening to their album (a bunch of times), and reading article after article (and blog after blog) about them, I was really curious to see how the young Raleigh North Carolina band, Annuals pulled everything together live on stage. After what I saw on Tuesday night, it seems like all of the hype surrounding this band is warranted.

The band came out firing, blazing through renditions of 'Bleary Eyed', 'complete or Completing' and 'Fair'. Their on stage energy was exceptional throughout the show, and it seemed like lead singer (and keyboard's/percussionist) Adam Baker was walking a thinning tightrope between chaos and utter insanity all night. Baker, definitely the ringleader of the band, drove the band forward with his emotional yelps, and inspired keyboards (and when the time was right, percussion) playing.

Highlights of the show included some awesome percussion sessions, which, at times included 4 members of the band (on two different drum sets). The lead guitarist, Kenny Florence, was also exceptional throughout the show. Of course, the performance of their single, 'Brother' was a high point of the concert, and they pulled it off effectively-- leaving little to be desired from the album version.

Although not on the same level as some of the bands they are currently drawing comparisons from (see Arcade Fire), they definitely have the potential to get there soon. Look out for this band to take over in the near future.

--Also, congrats to Justin, who won the first ever Climate Change ticket giveaway... (hopefully there will be more to come in the future)

Bonus: a new Annuals song (recorded live via Pitchfork) -- I'm pretty sure this was played at their show in Seattle too.

Annuals - Do You Like It (live)