burned all my notebooks...what good are notebooks: sharon van etten

Showing posts with label sharon van etten. Show all posts

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Eyes Glowing In The Dark: Sharon Van Etten In LA

SHARON VAN ETTEN

JANA HUNTER

EL REY THEATER, LA

28 JUNE 2014

Sharon Van Etten came to Los Angeles on the West Coast swing of a tour promoting her brand new release Are We There. Words on the show come courtesy of The Owl Magazine, along with some primo pictures from Jennie Tan. She and her band have only gotten tighter since the last time we caught up with Van Etten, touring her last LP, Tramp, and putting in an appearance at Outsidelands, in Golden Gate Park. Stellar support was provided by Jana Hunter, (Lower Dens), working with guitar and laptop to weave a spell, and set the tone for the whole evening.

JANA HUNTER

Monday, December 31, 2012

The Needle Drops: Favorite Songs 2012

Continuing the year-end housekeeping, here's the songs that kept me going throughout 2012. Some were the singles/focus tracks...whatever the hell they're called these days, and some are deep cuts that jumped out and grabbed me, and refused to let go. There's no small amount of crossover with the previous Favorite Album List, but this is the place to explore the nooks and crannies of stand-alone tracks and EP's released during the year. For obsessive compulsives, here's the top 10:

10) "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" TAME IMPALA from Lonerism (Modular)

9) "Give Out" SHARON VAN ETTEN from Tramp (Jagjaguwar)

8) "Seaside, Lowtide" CATE LE BON from Cyrk II (Control Group)

7) "Gun Has No Trigger" DIRTY PROJECTORS from Swing Lo Magellan (Domino)

6) "Erika America" JENS LEKMAN from I Know What Love Isn't (Secretly Canadian)

5) "Star Of The Age" SHEARWATER from Animal Joy (Sub Pop)

4) "Troublemaker" BEACH HOUSE from Bloom (Sub Pop/Bella Union)

3) "Now I'm Learning To Love The War" FATHER JOHN MISTY from Fear Fun (Sub Pop)

2) "Sleepover" HOSPITALITY from Hospitality (Merge)

1) "Somewhere There's A Someone" JASON LYTLE from Dept. Of Disappearance (Anti-)

Here for your convenience on this handy dandy playlist:

On a personal note, this post marks four years of this blog. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to visit, comment, heckle, and otherwise keep the faith. There's always another show on the horizon...

(Stay tuned for the final housecleaning episode: The Year In Photos)

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Outsidelands, SF: Sights and Sounds (day one)

Catching up with the craziest of months...this is the second of three festivals in that span. Golden Gate Park in San Francisco proved to be a stellar place for Outsidelands-lots of grass and trees, plenty of room, and no fear whatsoever of that overwhelming Coachella sunshine sneaking out and biting you.
Fog was the word for day one, with the sun never really gaining purchase throughout the day, rendering sunglasses as a needless affectation. The setup was four stages, with two tents interspersed, covering a nice chunk of real estate. Unlike the more compact Coachella setup, this one demanded a lot of hiking if your tastes were random. The plus side was the lack of noise bleed between the stages-a major consideration when one is booking Metallica and Sigur Ros to overlap. Being San Francisco, the food was top notch, the best the Bay Area has to offer, and firmly above any other fest i've attended. Vendors were scattered throughout, and the wooded trail between the two largest stages was dubbed Chocoland! (Cue Homer Simpson drooling...) With Winelands and Beerlands both in effect, it really took the entire weekend to get to the bottom of things.

Friday was high intensity, and made for a lot of mileage roaming stage to stage. White Denim was a nice noisy way to start the weekend, and if day one had a predominant theme, for me it was Brass, and lots of it. From the seminal New Orleans outfit, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, to NYC's Afro-fusion heavyweights, Antibalas to L.A.'s Fitz and the Tantrums, there were horns every which way. Early on, Sharon Van Etten gave a set that would stand up with anyone by the end of the festival, alternating hushed confessionals and flat out rockers. Two Gallants got a rousing reception from their hometown crowd, and taking the opportunity to throw out chunks of their brand new LP. Tennis sparked some warmth from the depths of their down coats, and The Walkmen kept the faith with a large crowd at the Sutro Stage.

Afternoon found the main stage littered with acts that could have headlined the day, such was the abundance of talent on opening day. Both Beck and the Foo Fighters could have headlined the day, if not for Neil Young and Crazy Horse at the top of the bill. Beck brought one of the day's more touching moments, recalling that his first time at Golden Gate Park was brought about by Adam (MCA) Yauch of the Beastie Boys, who tapped Beck for a spot in the Tibetan Freedom concert. Beck then dedicated "Lost Cause" to MCA, and went on to cover Neil's "After The Gold Rush". Foo Fighters provided rock and roll bridge to the evening, cutting through the looming fog with an intense set. Justice siphoned off the hipsters for late night dancing fun, but center stage belonged to Neil Young, together again with Crazy Horse, and they wasted no time in upholding the tradition of doing whatever the hell Neil felt like. Opening with an extended "Love And Only Love" from Ragged Glory, the Horse took control, and Neil didn't even hit the first verse until eight minutes in. After scaring off the lightweights, he dove into a searing version of "Powderfinger", a highlight of the set. He also made room for songs from an upcoming album with Crazy Horse, due in October. Knowing his audience, the perfect closer was "Roll Another Number". And with that, Outsidelands was off to an auspicious start.