tonyballinger.com » Music

Coachella 2010 Lineup

tonyballinger — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:09:44 +0000

Coachella has released this year’s lineup, and as usual – it’s a tough call. There are a few bands I haven’t seen that I would love to – namely, Thom Yorke, Gorillaz, The Dead Weather, Devo and a few others.

But then again, there are a few acts I have no interest in seeing at all, for example: Jay-Z, Muse, Faith No More, Spoon, Pavement, etc.

But for the most part, the lineup looks pretty solid with bands I’ve seen before, enjoy and would like to see again. These include: Vampire Weekend, Grizzly Bear, Echo & the Bunnymen, Ra Ra Riot, The Raveonettes, Tokyo Police Club, Beach House, Yo La Tengo and King Khan.

This is where the difficult decision kicks in. At this point in my life, I’ve seen a ridiculous number of bands and attended more music festivals than is practical. I’ve been to Lollapalooza, Pitchfork and Coachella more times than I care to count. The more festivals and bands I see, the more difficult it is for something to really stand out from the crowd.

But all of that is in the past. What matters is what’s happening this year, what I can experience next. And Coachella is easily my favorite music festival, hands down. It’s not even a close race.

That said, if I’m going to make a big to-do about seeing a festival this year – will it be Coachella or the Brighton Festival in the UK? Coachella is a great event, but Eno is curating the Brighton Festival, which is sure to include some interesting events. In particular, a performance of Eno’s album “Apollo”.

Decisions, decisions.

DavidByrne.com – Here Lies Love

tonyballinger — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 06:06:09 +0000

Pretty excited about the new David Byrne album – his collaboration with Fatboy Slim, telling the story of Imelda Marcos. Odd as that sounds, I’ll buy it on pure Faith because Byrne never puts out junk. Although it’s disappointing that he only sings on two of the twenty-two tracks on the double CD.

Preorder David Byrne’s “Here Lies Love”.

Looking Forward to the Summer

tonyballinger — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:18:53 +0000

Since the weather has been decent for a few days, it’s got me thinking about this coming summer. I sadly am not going to Coachella this year, although I will be watching highlights this weekend over the web. But no worries, there’s plenty of other music I am looking forward to this summer.

The Kills/The Horrors

This is going to be an amazing show. The Kills rock the hell out every time I see them and I anticipate The Horrors are going to be pretty over the top. I really like The Kills’ last album, Midnight Bloom, and it will be great to see them in a small club. I saw them perform last year at Lollapalooza, but the heat got to them and they ended their set early.

Metric

Years ago when I was bailing out of shows pretty frequently, I missed an opportunity to see Metric at the Empty Bottle. I kick myself for that from time to time, but at least I got to see them at Coachella a while back. This will be my first time seeing them in a small club though, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m not loving the new album yet (although the single is great), but there’s time for it to grow on me before the show.

Nine Inch Nails/Janes Addiction

I love NIN. Always have. When I heard the rumors that this may be the last NIN tour, I knew I had to see this show. I’m really looking forward to hearing songs from “The Slip” and “With Teeth” live. This show will also correct my concert karma, because back in high school I skipped seeing Jane’s Addiction to go to prom or something.

Pitchfork Festival

The Pitchfork Festival has always been about the best deal you’re going to find in concert festivals. And this year is no different, with acts like: Vivian Girls, Grizzly Bear, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The National, Yo La Tengo, Tortoise, M83, The Black Lips and more.

Lollapalooza

Lollapalooza is not a cheap ticket, but at least I didn’t pay full price this year. I honestly don’t really know who’s going to be there, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter – I’d probably go anyway. I’m hoping for Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Depeche Mode, The Cure and a few others. Rumor has it that Lou Reed, Beastie Boys, The Decemberists, Band of Horses, Ben Harper, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, The Raveonettes, TV on the Radio, Vampire Weekend and more will be there – but we won’t really know for a few weeks. At any rate, it’s going to be another great summer!

Catching Up With

tonyballinger — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:02:30 +0000

It’s the beginning of January and to be perfectly honest, it’s like I had forgotten I even have a blog. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Cooper Update

The past 7 months since baby Cooper was born have been a bit of a blur. The beginning was a shock to the system, but over the months we’ve fallen into a groove and now things are pretty predictable. Coop’s sleeping through the night (for the most part) and he’s typically in a good mood, unless he’s not feeling well. I feel tremendously fortunate for this, because I’ve heard horror stories of terminally fussy babies from friends with young children.

Concerts

Right after Coop was born I caught a few shows: The Cure and REM. But as the months rolled on, getting sleep became a lot more important than seeing shows I had tickets for. I skipped The Breeders, Brightblack Morning Light and Neil Halsted at Schubas. However, while I was getting my bearings as a parent, I felt I was losing touch with myself as a person. So I’ll be seeing a few shows soon, starting with Department of Eagles at Schubas next week.

Stereo Realization

If you know me at all, you know I love music. But over the years I’ve come to realize that while I have a nice stereo in the living room, I actually do most of my music listening in the car or on the computer. Last year I upgraded my car stereo with an Alpine amp, a pair of Boston Acoustics speakers and a Blaupunkt subwoofer. This year I’m doing a bit of tinkering with my computer setup. I’ve switched from using my M-Audio studio monitors to using a pair of Polk bookshelf speakers hooked up to a small amp. The amp is connected to my computer through a digital to analog convertor via the optical out of my G5. So far, so good. Now I’m just debating upgrading my entire music collection to either 320k mp3s or Apple Lossless files.

The Cure in Ohio

tonyballinger — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:49:02 +0000

Ok, this post is about four months late. Which is better than never, but only just barely. An unintended consequence of Cooper’s birth was that it coincided with some incredible Cure tickets I had for the same evening. I know, to even mention such a thing provides fairly strong evidence that my priorities are screwed up. I don’t dispute this. No worries though, a friend went in my place and thoroughly enjoyed my 8th row tickets for the show.

My method for making peace with this was that I told myself that on the next occasion that I could see the Cure, I would allow myself to do whatever needed to be done to see as good a show (if not better) as the one I missed. No expense or effort would be spared. I imagined this would be a few years from now, after a few more rumored Cure breakups and subsequent new albums. Imagine my surprise when I saw on Ticketmaster that they would be in Ohio a month later.

The original plan was for Jim and I to load up the Mini Cooper with a cooler of orange soda (preferably Sunkist) and an iPod of Cure albums and drive to Cleveland for the show. But it turns out I had a meeting that morning that I couldn’t miss. Lucky for me, my work is both profoundly flexible and generous. They agreed to fly Jim and I to Cleveland in order to both make the meeting and correct my concert karma.

A Few Words About Concert Karma

Concert karma is when by some unfortunate circumstance, you miss a show. As a child, my father and I missed a Robert Palmer show because our car overheated. I corrected this event by seeing Robert Palmer fifteen years later at the House of Blues with my mom. As a child, I missed Pink Floyd because my parents thought I was too young for a concert. I corrected this event by seeing Pink Floyd years later in Des Moines (or was it Ames?). Actually, I brought that one full circle by taking my dad to see Roger Waters perform Dark Side of the Moon in Chicago. The point is, once you’ve missed a show for any reason, the clock is now ticking. It may take you a year, or three, or thirty to correct it – but correct it you must. It’s one of the only ways you can preserve any kind of harmony in the universe. Either that, or I’m just kind of obsessive about this stuff.

Back to Our Story

After the meeting and a convertible ride to O’Hare (sunburn included), I gave Jim a call to see where he wanted to meet up for a beer before the flight. The conversation went something like this:

Me:: “Hey, I’m here � where you at? Want to get a drink before the flight?”
Jim:: “Why are you there so freaking early? Our flight doesn’t leave for like 3 hours.”
Me:: “Our flight leaves in an hour. I e-mailed you the itinerary from Expedia.”
Jim:: “Oh Jesus, you’re right. I’m not going to make it.”
Me:: “Dude. Not right. You have the tickets. You HAVE to make it. Get in the car, break some laws and I’ll see you at the gate in less than an hour.”
Jim:: “I’m leaving now.”

Lollapalooza 2008: It’s a Blur

tonyballinger — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 01:35:54 +0000

I’ve been to all the Lollapaloozas at Grant Park (and more than a couple back in the 90s’s too) and I’ve always kind of half-assed them. They’ve never really gotten the attention and adoration from me that Coachella has. Which really isn’t fair, because Lollapalooza is almost as good as Coachella. Almost. And this year it came close enough that I’m not mourning (much) the fact that I missed Coachella again this year. This was by far the most enjoyable Lollapalooza yet.

My previous gripes about Lolla were these: it’s laid out in such a way as to cause massive traffic jams in the center of the park and it’s ridiculously hot and humid.

This year the weather helped out considerably with that second one: although it was surface of the sun hot on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were perfect. It was nice enough that I dared to drink beer during the day – an act which would have resulted in certain death in the heat of previous years.

As for the crowd traffic: this year I went with another approach. I minimized my trips across the park. If it was between two bands I kinda liked, I went with the closer one. I ended up skipping a few sets that I might have enjoyed marginally more, but not as much as I enjoying not making the trek across the expansive Grant Park. With the exception of one poor set choice on my part, the plan worked out almost perfectly.

So who did I see? Honestly it’s a bit of a blur. I’m having to refer to my schedule right now to recall. Ok, it’s all coming back to me now…. The Enemy UK, The Kills, The Black Keys, Cat Power, Grizzly Bear, CSS, Radiohead, The Gutter Twins, Booka Shade, Explosions in the Sky, Jamie Lidell, Battles, Toadies, Rage Against the Machine, Wilco, The Whigs, Nicole Atkins & the Sea, Amadou & Mariam, Iron & Wine, Love and Rockets, The National and Nine Inch Nails.

Instead of reviewing each, let’s give awards. After all, how many ways can I say a bunch of bands rocked?

The Awards:

Band I Missed But Would Have Most Liked to Have Seen

That has to be Rogue Wave. I’m not a huge fan, but the album has really grown on me these past few weeks and I really would have liked to have seen them. But the line was so ridiculously long to get in on the first day that after standing in line for an hour, I only made it in time to see The Kills.

Best Set

Either CSS or Toadies. I’ll say CSS because I’ve never seen them before and they were played a high energy and danceable set. And by the time they played “Alcohol” and “Alala” the crowd was on fire. However, Toadies put on a hell of a performance too. And after playing “their big song” (whichever that was) a lot of the crowd cleared out and Jim and I got with in 15 people of the stage. Awesome performance – like a cross between the Pixies and Soundgarden.

Worst Set

Without a doubt: Battles. It was practically unlistenable. They sounded a bit like Tortoise, but only if you took everything I like about Tortoise out of the equation and just left experimental instrumental music. It was so bad we left to watch Lupe Fiasco – which also sucked, but at least it was listenably well-executed sucking.

Hottest Set

Had to be The Kills, and they were feeling it too. They ended their set 20 minutes early, and I don’t blame them. Wearing all black and rocking out into the early afternoon sun is a good way to give yourself a coronary. They put on a great set while they could though.

Biggest Freaking Crowd I’ve Ever Seen

Radiohead drew more people to their stage than I’ve even seen in my life. It was China showed up to hear Karma Police or something. I love Radiohead, but I’ve seen them three times before – so I wan’t going to try and be a hero and get up any closer than the back third of the field. No worries though, they sounded great. Surprisingly mellow and sleepy set though – I had expected a bit more energy from the performance.

Surprisingly Worst Sound From Band I Looked Forward to The Most

I love the band Love and Rockets, but their sound was abysmal. If I didn’t want to hear a few songs from “Earth, Sun, Moon” so bad, I might have left and checked out Gnarls Barkley. The guitar was too bright, the vocals too soft, and there were to keyboards at all – despite the heavy use of keyboards in their recorded output. But they did play “No New Tale To Tell” and “Mirror People” so it was all worth it.

Editors @ The Vic

tonyballinger — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:47:14 +0000

Honestly, when I first heard Editors I didn’t think much of them. I thought they sounded a lot like Interpol, who sounds a lot like Joy Division, and their guitar hooks had the spirit of early U2. But I went and saw them anyway, and I was quickly hooked. Editors’ live show never disappoints, and tonight’s show was no exception.

The first opener of the evening was Hot Hot Heat, who for whatever reason I just can’t get into. Their songs all sound awfully similar, which I suppose isn’t such a bad thing if you like one of their songs. About midway through the set I realized that I had seen Hot Hot Heat before, at the Q101 Block Party. But the memory was dim and faded because of the unusually good fortune of drinking for free all that night. But all in all, Hot Hot Heat was fine as an opener tonight, if not particularly memorable.

Louis XIV, the second opener of the evening was more entertaining, but paled in comparison to their performance I previously witnessed at the Metro. That show was over the top theatrics � pointing at the crowd, leg kicks and the works. This set was awfully subdued, and even included a small string section. I suspect they’re trying to bring a bit of the Arcade Fire sense of sophistication to their music with mixed results.

But the main event was Editors, and they lived up the expectations of the sold out crowd. The crowd was a bit less enthusiastic than I would have expected, but it didn’t seem to affect their set. With most bands there’s a song or two in the set where you don’t feel like you’re missing much by getting a round of drinks or using the restroom. During those kinds of mid-set duds, I frequently check my e-mail on my phone. But that’s not the case with this band, there wasn’t a weak song in the bunch.

A Very Good Week

tonyballinger — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 05:14:56 +0000

Some weeks are a blur. Too much work, too little time and such. But this was a very good week. For starters, all of my projects at work are going reasonably well. I’ve restructured a few things about how we work together as a team on projects, and so far, things are going swimmingly. For one, I’ve freed up a bit of my days to spend more time on the work that I love. Second, I’m created more opportunities to collaborate with folks. Weeks like this remind me what a difference it makes in life to have a job you enjoy. Faith used to comment how I would come home from WH with a look of utter defeat. Thankfully, those days are long gone.

We also had a bit of fun at work this week for Halloween. We make a very big deal out of Halloween at work – we dress up, we watch movies, we go out for lunch and then spend the afternoon doing something fun together. This year’s activity was a bus tour of haunted sites in Naperville, complete with a session of ghost hunting at the end. Sadly, the ghost hunt was a bit of a bust. We walked around the Naperville trainyard with small EMF detectors, but mine detected nothing spectacular or spectral. Such is life.

Also this week, I was able to catch a few live shows at the Empty Bottle. On Tuesday, Castanets and Tunng played a pair of great sets. Surprisingly, I was happier with the Castanets set, despite having wanted to see Tunng for years. The Castanets set had a lot more emotional intensity to it, and they played both of my favorite songs of theirs – “You Are the Light” and “Good Friend, Yr Hunger”. They also did a surprising cover of “You Got Lucky” by Tom Petty.

By contrast, Tunng’s set was also entertaining but felt lightweight. Maybe they were nervous, but their performance felt forced and disingenuous. However, I’m positive I’m reading too much into that.

The next evening I caught Mobius Band with Doug at the Empty Bottle again. I just don’t understand why Mobius Band isn’t a bigger draw. They have all the same laprock qualities of The Postal Service, with the exception that they’re more prolific (three albums instead of just the one). This is my second time seeing them, and both shows have been excellent. I had the good fortune to pick up their latest album on eMusic last week, and as usual, it does not disappoint.

New iPods

tonyballinger — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 01:20:16 +0000

Apple certainly pulled out all the stops today with a full new line of iPods. But realistically speaking, it’s all moot to me since I have an 8GB iPhone that I love (and I mean a lasting love, a love that grows over time) and a 60GB iPod Video for longer trips. Plus, I’m locked into AT&T for the foreseeable future, so it’s a good thing I love the iPhone as much as I do. Here’s my take on Apple’s new sexy (but useless to me) gadgets.

iPod Shuffle

If I were to get any new iPod at this point, it would be the shuffle. However, I have absolutely no use for a shuffle, so even that one is a long shot. The new colors are nice, if a bit muted. Actually if I were to get any shuffle at all, it would be the green one. Maybe I’ll pick one up off eBay if I’m overcome with gadget lust this year.

iPod Nano

I love the new features, but I’m not loving this design. They could have called it “iPod stumpy”. But the ability to play games and watch videos on the new nano means this thing is made for killing time in grocery store lines, airports, doctors offices and anywhere else you find yourself stuck in life. Personally I only use my nano at the gym (with the Nike gadget), and I don’t suspect I’m enough of that lately to warrant an upgrade.

iPod Classic

160GB of storage on a sliver of a device is hot. But these days I’m not really using my iPod for much other than longer road trips and occasionally playing games (I should really spend some time and master soduku). But it would be nice to carry a third of my music collection at all times. But then again, have you ever had to erase your 60GB iPod and then spend the time choosing music to refill it again? It seriously a full day process. If I had to do that with a 160GB iPod, I’d probably spend all weekend and then have to take a personal day on Monday to complete the selection.

I also like how shiny the new interface is for the iPod Classic and Nano are also, but I’m not sure about the big photo that takes up a third of the screen as you’re navigating. It looks like an homage to AppleTV, but it just looks out of place.

Speaking of the interface, Cover Flow is fun eye candy but does anyone actually use it to find anything really? I tend to break out Cover Flow to show folks how swank the iPhone is, but I don’t think I’ve used it to actually find an album or song ever. I can’t imagine how much less useful it’s going to be on the Nano and Classic.

iPod Touch

It’s a thing of beauty to be certain, but i’ll stick with the iPhone. I love only having to carry one device these days. My only question is – why does it lack an e-mail application if it can do wi-fi? I suppose it doesn’t really matter since you can hit Yahoo Mail or Gmail with Safari, but that’s still less than optimal.

I think the most interesting thing about the Touch is the relationship with Starbucks. With the iTunes/Starbucks tie-in, they now have something resembling a brick and mortar national music chain (kinda). Things are only going to get more interesting for the Touch and the iPhone now. I’m reminded now how glad I am that I didn’t start a CD store in my twenties like I wanted to.

By the way, now that browsing the web the Safari way is now built into every iPod Touch as well as every iPhone, I think things are going to get more interesting on mobile faster than ever. Which is great news, since the mobile web still largely stinks.

Catching Up With…

tonyballinger — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:46:17 +0000

Isn’t winter supposed to be the slow season for agencies? When clients take a few weeks to ramp up after the holidays and figure out their budgets for the new year? Years ago I can remember using the first month of the year to catch up on books and tutorials I had been meaning to read but hadn’t.

Not this year. We’ve been going full tilt at work since Halloween and things don’t look like they’re slowing up any time soon. But it’s by far the preferable situation to be in, so I have no complaints. So what else is new?

Gerard Performance Review

I had my performance review at Gerard Design a few weeks ago and things went really well. It’s nice to work at a small agency where folks take a personal interest in your role at the company. They have a few new twists on my compensation that are pretty exciting. More details to follow soon.

Getting Really into iCal + Treo

Something I want to do this year is get much more organized. I’ve started using iCal to create daily to-do lists that I can sync between my home and work machines as well as my Treo.

New Music

The new Shins album is a pleasure to listen to. The new Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is more than a little disappointing. The new Decemberists is more than a little prog rocky for my taste. Nine Inch Nails has a new one coming out soon. So does Bjork. But most of all, I’m looking forward to the new Arcade Fire album. Does anyone still call them albums?

Brian Eno is Producing Coldplay

Coldplay is a guilty pleasure of mine. They’re far to radio-friendly to share a playlist with my usual fare, but I can’t help it. I particularly like their first album Parachutes, which has more than a passing similarity to James’ album “Laid” (produced by Eno). Here’s hoping that Eno can take them in a whole new direction.

James Has Reunited

James is one of the few bands I didn’t see before they broke up. Seeing Tim Booth a few years ago was great, but it was far too short a set. He did play a few songs from Laid though. Here’s hoping they tour the US in time for my bachelor party or Faith and my honeymoon.

David Lynch’s INLAND EMPIRE @ The Music Box

Lynch has really outdone himself with this one. INLAND EMPIRE is far more abstract than anything he has done since Eraserhead, which at times made for a tough (but rewarding) three hours. I might need to see it a second time to see if I can glean any more meaning from another viewing.

Going to Cooper Training in San Francisco Soon

I’ve registered for a four day interaction design course at Cooper U in San Francisco to further my skills outside of purely visual design. I’m looking forward to learning more about performing user research, developing requirements, using design patterns and more in a small class environment.