People should move to Colorado just for Red Rocks. That venue with it’s perfect sight lines and sound set within two majestic red rock slabs doesn’t get any better on a warm summer evening like last night. Vampire Weekend blew it off the charts. My favorite quote of the night from Ezra Koenig, “You guys look nice at an angle.”

The band came out at a 10 and the audience gave it all back. The energy swirling between the rocks was palpable and Koenig repeatedly commented on the communal feeling wafting from the audience. “We haven’t been to the Denver area since we started touring… You guys are amazing.” The band rewarded fans with the second ever played Contra and a set that both highlighted their keen musicianship and a knack for writing short gems blending danceable influences from around the globe. Every song they unleashed off their two albums differed from the studio cuts, increasing the feel that we were getting something truly special.

Best view walking to the parking lot ever. I relished in the sounds of people yelling in appreciation as I made my way to the car. Last night was the most beautiful show I’ve been to in ages. It made me cry.

Vampire Weekend is one of the best live acts touring now. Go see them.

mp3: Vampire Weekend – The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance (Live feat. Chromeo) – mtvU Woodies (2008)
mp3: Vampire Weekend – California English – Contra (2010)
mp3: Vampire Weekend – I Think Ur A Contra – Contra (2010)

MySpace | http://luxilluminates.com/2010/09/04/vampire-weekend-at-red-rocks-an-out-of-this-world-experience/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LuxIlluminates/~3/jdKtqW3ZUSM/ http://luxilluminates.com/2010/08/03/head-in-the-clouds-back-soon/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:35:39 +0000 Lux http://luxilluminates.com/?p=2201

My head has been in the clouds… Back to this passion soon. For now, I’ll leave you with this.

mp3: Panda Bear – Slow Motion

I am entirely excited for CocoRosie’s performance tomorrow at the Gothic in Denver. I’ve yet to behold the musical explorations of the Casady sisters live, but I sense that it will be epic. Their music is sultry, experimental, impassioned, and one-of-a-kind. The resonances of Bianca and Sierra’s angelic and otherworldly vocals amid their curious, fantastical realm of effected sounds and tones is true art.

The duo’s name comes from nicknames their mother gave them when they were young, Bianca “Coco” and Sierra “Rosie”. The girls reunited in Paris in 2003 to collaborate and create. The story is quite romantic. Bianca, who was then 2, living in Brooklyn and hadn’t seen much of her older sister for the past 10 years, had grown restless and decided to invite a change. She chose to travel the world and showed up in Paris where 24-year-old Sierra was studying voice. The two sisters sequestered themselves in Sierra’s bathroom, the most acoustic and isolated room in the apartment, for the better part of 2 months and soon completed their debut album, La Maison de Mon Rêve (2004).

Since then, the girls have toured the world, sharing their gorgeous and unrecognizable fusion of hip-hop, opera, electronica and pop. Sometimes it sounds as though you are listening to a field recording equipped with foreign noises, scratches, and faded vocals floating in the background. Other time it’s as though Billie Holiday has come back as a tiny girl obsessed with rhyme. Their third work, The Adventures of Stillborn and Ghosthorse (2007), was aptly produced by legendary Icelandic sound engineer, Valgeir Sigurdsson, who has excelled at capturing the anomalies and eccentricities of the Bjork. The duo recently signed with Sub Pop records to release their fourth full-length album, Grey Oceans (May 2010).

CocoRosie’s music is a reflection of Bianca and Sierra’s relationship with each other and this is what inspires its magic. It’s a means of expression for the intense and complex energy that runs between the two sisters. Originally, the girls performed as a duo with Sierra singing, playing the guitar, piano and harp, and Bianca singing and manipulating children’s toys, electronic and percussion instruments, and other unusual noisemakers. They more often now perform with a variety of backing musicians who take the roles of bassist, synth player and beatboxer.

Costuming is a constant within the world of CocoRosie, another part of the performance that I can’t wait to lay my eyes on. Bianca has been making her own clothes since she was 15. In Paris, the sisters are revered as fashion icons and regularly make the covers of style magazines. But unlike many of the women who surround them, the two are more likely to take and make their attire from 2nd hand stores than from the shops on the Rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré.

So off to the Gothic to experience a world of unicorns, rainbows, fairies and angels and everything else that is CocoRosie. Don’t miss them as they voyage throughout the U.S. and then Europe.

Jun 21 – Gothic Theater, Denver, CO
Jun 22 – Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT
Jun 24 – Vogue Theater, Vancouver, CA
Jun 25 – Showbox, Seattle, WA
Jun 26 – Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
Jun 29 – Regency, San Francisco, CA
Jun 30 – Rio Theater, Santa Cruz, CA
Jul 1 – Belly Up, San Diego, CA
Jul 2 – Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles, CA
Jul 17 – Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, CH
Jul 18 – Villa Ada, Roma, ITALY
Jul 19 – Spazio 211, Torino, ITALY
Jul 20 – Wagenhallen, Stuttgart, GERMANY
Jul 21 – KulturZelt, Kassel, GERMANY
Jul 23 – KulturArena, Jena, GERMANY
Jul 24 – Archa Theatre, Prag, CZECH REPUBLIC
Jul 26 – Gödör Klub, Budapest, HUNGARY
Jul 27 – Arena Open Air, Vienna, AUSTRIA

mp3: CocoRosie – Lemonade – Grey Oceans (2010)
mp3: CocoRosie – Rainbowarriors – The Adventures Of Ghosthorse And Stillborn (2007)
mp3: CocoRosie – Terrible Angels – La Maison de Mon Rêve (2004)

MySpace | Website

The Westword Music Showcase is Denver’s very own version of SXSW, albeit a smaller one. The yearly event, hosted by the free alternative weekly across 8 blocks of the Denver’s Golden Triangle neighborhood lasts just one day. But don’t let this take away from the fact that it is one of the best events in the area to take in the burgeoning Denver music scene and catch some amazing national acts as well. And it’s cheap. Just $15 in advance and $30 day of.

This year’s event has one of the best lineups to date for indie fans with headliners including Ghostland Observatory (Austin), Dirty Projectors, and Neon Indian. Other stand-out local acts include The Still City, Eleanor, Hello Kavita, Taun Taun, and Kill Paradise. See below for Lux’s picks for this year’s Westword Music Showcase.

FULL SCHEDULE / VENUE MAP
BUY TICKETS

Dirty Projectors
Hometown: Brooklyn
Genre: Vocally Deep Experimental Indie
Time & Venue: 5:45 – 6:45pm (Main Stage)
MySpace | Website

mp3: Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is the Move

Neon Indian
Hometown: Brooklyn/Austin
Genre: Psychedelic Electro Pop
Time & Venue: 4:30 – 5:30pm (Main Stage)
MySpace

mp3: Neon Indian – Terminally Chill

Ghostland Observatory
Hometown: Austin
Genre: Electro Punk
Time & Venue: 8:30 – 9:55pm (Main Stage)
MySpace | Website

mp3: Ghostland Observatory – Sad Sad City

Eleanor
Hometown: Denver
Genre: Intimate Indie Folk
Time & Venue: 2:25 – 3:00pm (Mo’s)
MySpace

mp3: Eleanor – It Takes One to Know One _ Reprise

The Still City
Hometown: Denver
Genre: Pensive Indie Rock
Time & Venue: 5:15 – 6:00pm (Sutra)
MySpace | Website

Hello Kavita
Hometown: Denver
Genre: Softly Styled Indie Rock
Time & Venue: 4:15 – 5:00pm (Curious Theater)
MySpace | Website

mp3: Hello Kavita – To A Loved One

John Common & Blinding Flashes of Light
Hometown: Denver
Genre: Earnest Indie Folk
Time & Venue: 1:15 – 2:00pm (Curious Theater)
MySpace | Website

mp3: John Common – Good Heart

Kill Paradise
Hometown: Denver
Genre: Electronic, candy pop
Time & Venue: 6:15 – 7:00pm (City Hall)
MySpace

mp3: Kill Paradise – Just Friends

Air Dubai
Hometown: Denver
Genre: Smooth, soulful hip-hop
Time & Venue: 3:00 – 4:15pm (City Hall)
MySpace

mp3: Air Dubai – Ten Weeks

Accordion Crimes
Hometown: Denver
Genre: Hard Esoteric Indie
Time & Venue: 3:15 – 4:00pm (Sutra)
MySpace

Achille Lauro
Hometown: Denver
Genre: Pop-imbued Indie Rock
Time & Venue: 1:15 – 2:00pm (Curious Theater)
MySpace

Fresh2Death
Hometown: Boulder
Genre: Hyphy Crunk Electronica
Time & Venue: 6:15 – 7:00pm (Bar Standard Patio)
MySpace

TaunTaun
Hometown: Denver
Genre: Melodic Metal
Time & Venue: 6:15 – 7:00pm (Broadways)
MySpace

Flashbulb Fires
Hometown: Denver
Genre: Textural Indie Pop
Time & Venue: 12:15 – 1:00pm (Curious Theater)
MySpace | Website

mp3: Flashbulb Fires – Twenty-Something

The Chain Gang of 1974
Hometown: Denver
Genre: Electro Pop
Time & Venue: 5:15 – 6:00pm (City Hall)
MySpace

Boombox
Hometown: Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Genre: Electro Dance Funk
Time & Venue: 11:00pm – 1:00am (City Hall)
MySpace | Website

mp3: Boombox – Midnight on the Run

FULL SCHEDULE / VENUE MAP

BUY TICKETS

Lux is working the festival circuit (Desert Rocks, Wakarusa, and Bonnaroo!) and will be back to you in mid June!

Get it started right…

mp3: Phantogram – Mouthful Of Diamonds
mp3: Little Dragon – Runabout
mp3: The Joy Formidable – The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade
mp3: Chromeo – Ah Oui Comme Ca
mp3: Crystal Castles – Air War
mp3: Neon Indian – Terminally Chill
mp3: Passion Pit – Little Secrets
mp3: DJ Rootz – Gguuhh
mp3: Miike Snow – Song For No One
mp3: School of Seven Bells – Babelonia
mp3: Gorillaz – Empire Ants (feat. Little Dragon)
mp3: Pretty Lights – Hot Like Sauce

Phish will give its first television performance since 2004 tonight on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.” The appearance is part of a Rolling Stones’ tribute week to their 1972 album Exile On Main Street. Each night on Fallon a different band will cover a song from the classic album. The show starts tonight at 12:35 / 11:35 CST on NBC.

The tribute week concides with the May 18, 2010 deluxe release of a remastered version of the album featuring 10 previously unheard tracks including “Plundered My Soul”, “Dancing in the Light”, “Following the River” and “Pass the Wine” as well as alternate versions of “Soul Survivor” and “Loving Cup”.

Throughout the week artists will sit in with hip-hop artists The Roots, Fallon’s house band since March 2009. Other musical guests this week included Green Day, Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow, Taj Mahal, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, and Rolling Stones’ keyboardist Chuck Leavell. LL Cool J is appearing tonight along with Phish.

The million dollar question: What will Phish play? So far nothing has been announced. The rock legends played Exile in its entirety at Festival 8 over Halloween this past fall, so anything is possible.

Check out this clip of “Rocks Off” from Festival 8.

Looking forward to the unveiling of Phish this evening!

School of Seven Bells trigger psychedelic expeditions into colorful soundscapes infused with the sensual vocals of twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza and the ethereal guitar wanderings of Benjamin Curtis. Their multi-layered songs are saturated with melting guitar tones, lush vocal harmonies, raw synths, electronica-edged beats, and heavy production. The band’s love for rhythm, atmosphere and melody is overwhelmingly apparent throughout their explorations.

The members of School of Seven Bells met on tour supporting Interpol in 2004, Curtis performing with Secret Machines and the Dehezas with On!Air!Library!. When first exposed to his future bandmates, Curtis perceived a rare vibe and communication between the girls and fell deeply in love with the sound. Alejandra revealed to Curtis her dreams for a collective entitled School of Seven Bells. The name stems from a fabled training academy of thieves and pickpockets in Columbia. They began making music here and there and by 2007 put some tracks together that they had affection for and released them as the Face to Face on High Places EP. That same year, the band began touring and had the fortune to support both Blonde Redhead and Prefuse 73 on the road.

mp3: School of Seven Bells – Face To Face On High Places – Face To Face On High Places (2007)

Initially, the group spent time translating elements programmed in the studio to other musicians who could fill them out in the live setting. Soon, they began featuring the tracks as originally created. If the sounds were programmed, they’d leave it that way, and if they played them themselves, they’d play it on stage. The sound became more honest and the evolution was liberating, enabling the group to remain a trio.

School of Seven Bells’ debut album Alpinism was released in 2008 on Ghostly International. The trio fused their two disparate previous projects into a new sound anchored in gorgeous, winding melodies and beguiling synth backdrops. The recording is glittery and uplifting, peaceful and hymn-like, yet at points dark and tension-filled. Each track is a distinct being, possessing its very own magic. The distorted vocals on “Chain” gorgeously lean in the direction of Black Moth. And at points, School of Seven Bells recall another one of Brooklyn babies, St. Vincent. In 2009, they supported Alpinism on tours with both Bat for Lashes and Black Moth Super Rainbow.

mp3: School of Seven Bells – Chain – Alpinism (2008)
mp3: School of Seven Bells – For Kalaja Mari – Alpinism (2008)

The trio recently announced that Disconnect from Desire, their 2nd full-length release, will drop via Vagrant/Ghostly International and Full Time Hobby in Europe on July 13th. The album, produced by band member Benjamin Curtis and mixed by Jack Joseph Puig, was recorded in the band’s home studio in Brooklyn. “Babelonia” is the gorgeously fuzzy first track off the album, which they’ve released for free into the blogosphere.

mp3: School of Seven Bells – Babelonia – Disconnect From Desire (2010)

“From the start, we knew we wanted to make a record that connected on more of a direct and personal level than we ever had before,” Curtis revealed in a statement regarding Disconnect. “It’s a complete account of our lives this past year, and it’s crazy how taking an honest look at yourself can tell you the most about the world around you.”

In support of the release, the trio will perform one date at The Echo in Los Angeles on June 2nd and two at the Mercury Lounge in NYC on June 9 and 10. And in July, the band will journey abroad to the Netherlands, the U.K., Germany and Australia.

Last year, SoSB brought another atmospheric dream pop group on the road with them, upstate New York’s Phantogram. With their thudding beats, lush synthesizers, psychedelic art-rock and interchange of male/female vocals, Phantogram creates dazzling sounds reminiscent of SoSB. Don’t miss Phantogram on tour throughout the U.S. in May and June. May 13th brings them to the Larimer Lounge in Denver. They’ll also hit Sasquatch in 2010.

mp3: Phantogram – Mouthful Of Diamonds – Eyelid Movies (2010)

School of Seven Bells: MySpace | Website
Phantogram: MySpace

: Download Alpinisms through iTunes
: Download Alpinisms Deluxe through iTunes

]]> http://luxilluminates.com/2010/05/12/school-of-seven-bells-erect-lush-walls-of-sound/feed/ 0 http://luxilluminates.com/2010/05/12/school-of-seven-bells-erect-lush-walls-of-sound/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LuxIlluminates/~3/b1WWYCNgSx0/ http://luxilluminates.com/2010/05/10/the-week-begins-again-mix-for-u/#comments Tue, 11 May 2010 03:59:50 +0000 Lux http://luxilluminates.com/?p=1975

Relishing in the sweet sounds that soothe my ears, stimulate my senses, stir up feelings of bliss, and send me into the abyss as I work like I do…

Play loudly.

mp3: Human Highway – The Sound
mp3: Metric – Soft Rock Star
mp3: The Tough Alliance – Silly Crimes
mp3: Lupe Fiasco – Paris, Tokyo
mp3: Fleetwood Mac – Hold Me
mp3: Charlotte Gainsbourg – Me And Jane Doe
mp3: Jenny Lewis – Acid Tongue
mp3: Fanfarlo – Harold T. Wilkins, Or How To Wait For A Very Long Time
mp3: The Morning Benders – Excuses
mp3: Broken Social Scene – World Sick
mp3: Animal Collective – Fireworks

Irwin Barbé and Luna Cedron sent me their fashion video set to a High Places song called “From Stardust to Sentience.” The video features Luna’s Venus in Fürs designs. I’m in love with how the images embody the music. I also adore that 17-year-olds from France are sending me their artistic creations…

VENUS IN FURS the summer wasting from Irwin Barbé on Vimeo.

Check out more from this amazingly talented young designer. Luna’s ethereal creations feature floral fabrics, draping cords, and t-shirts covered in fantatsical childlike drawings. Luna loves live music, meeting musicians and giving them her designs. MGMT and Foals are already part of her following.

Clothing by Venus in Fürs …
Venus in Fürs’ Facebook
Check out this interview with Luna in Dazed.

Barbé’s visuals are equally preternatural. Here’s a video he directed for Gang Gang Dance’s “Vacuum”.

For more from Barbé… Irwin Barbé…

mp3: High Places – From Stardust to Sentience
mp3: Gang Gang Dance – Vacuum

High Places: MySpace | Website
Gang Gang Dance: MySpace | Website