8/2 Fresh Fest

The 3rd annual Old Skool Hip Hop festival, Fresh Fest, is happening Sunday August 2nd at the Belvedere. This year's fest is hosted by Ed Lover (of Yo! MTV Raps and C'mon Son fame) and will feature Kid N Play and Rakim (without Eric B.) and others as well as rap battles, B Boys (and gals), art, and what seems to be lots of fun. The price is a little steep at $40, but may be worth it.

Forecastle 2015 Photo Review

FORECASTLE 2015 PHOTO REVIEW 

Modest Mouse

Sturgill Simpson

at the Camel Tent

Cage the Elephant

Mast Stage

My Morning Jacket

MMJ

Tyler of Dr. Dundiff and Friends

Best performance of Forecastle: Jim James with Dr. Dundiff and Friends

Love at Forecastle

Ocean Stage Overpass

Ocean Stage

Funanas the Seahorse 

Beating the Heat

White Reaper with a reaper

Forecastle After-Parties

The Pass at Haymarket

Private Party at La La Land

La La Land

Saturday Night at Haymarket

The Pass

Man of the Hour Jim James on Sax

8/22 Seven Sense Fest FREE

On Saturday August 22, on the block between New Vintage and Zanzabar (and also including inside these bars) on Preston street will be a multistage FREE music event to benefit the Boys and Girls Haven. The event will host over 40 regional bands including Scott Carney, Jonathan Glen Wood Ensemble (of Old Baby),  Alex Wright & Maven Down, Quiet Hollers, The Hot Wires, The Bottom Sop, Adventure, Brother Wolves, Black Birds of Paradise, Tall Squares, and Satellite Twin.

Forecastle Day 3 Review

         It was blistering hot from the start on Sunday, but it didn't seem like anyone cared at the White Reaper set. Especially not the band, who were wearing black almost exclusively. The crowd grew as the set went on. Sometime in the middle they did a cover of "Rock n' Roll Part 2" by Gary Glitter, it seemed like more and more people were on stage as the set went on too, random kids just grabbing the mic and singing the lyrics or screaming. At one point a guy in a giant grim reaper costume came on stage and danced around. The energy at this show both on and off stage was pretty nuts.

White Reaper

         One much needed change that Forecastle made this year was shrinking the VIP section at the Boom Stage. In years past, the front of this stage was divided in half by VIP ticket-buyers and regular ticket-buyers. This led to a tighter crowding of people not on the VIP side where I watched a few people get hurt. This year, the VIP section was smaller and further stage right so that the whole front barrier was occupied by non-VIP ticket buyers, who weren't as packed together as they had been before. It didn't seem to make much of a difference for the VIP concertgoers either. There were about the same amount of them as previous years, showing about the same level of engagement. Altogether it just looked like a safer environment for everybody. 

Portugal. the Man

         That being said, Portugal. the Man's performance was full of surprises. I was planning on skipping the second half to catch the beginning of Modest Mouse's set just because I've seen Portugal so many times, but halfway through their opener "Hip Hop Kids," when I noticed that Nick Reinhart (of Tera Melos, Bygones, and more recently Death Grips fame) was standing in on second guitar, I got comfortable. Though they did mostly pull from their latest album "Evil Friends," they threw a couple surprises into their set like "Floating," from In the Mountain in the Cloud, and "Chicago," from Waiter: You Viltures! and even "Day Man" from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Over the past few years I've seen them focus more and more on stringing their songs together so they don't have to stop as much during their set. When they closed, they covered "Another Brick in the Wall" into their recent single "Purple, Yellow, Red, and Blue."

Modest Mouse... all of them

         I'm not a huge fan of the new Modest Mouse stuff, too many people in the band and all that, but they threw a few of the older songs into this set like "Styrofoam Boots," "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes," and "Shit Luck." The whole set seemed impersonal, but what can you expect from a main-stage performance. Still it was really nice to see them play with everyone singing along to "The Good Times are Killing Me."

         The Tallest Man on Earth took the stage as a full band, but halfway through the set Kristian Matsson played a few by himself including "Love is All," and "Lion's Heart." For "The Gardener," he brought out First Aid Kit to sing backup, then the full band took the stage again.

Forecastle Day 2 Review

Dr. Dundiff and Friends including Jim James 

I am going to go out on a limb (before the festival has ended) to say that the big Surprise hit of Forecastle 2015 was local hip hop act Dr. Dundiff (billed as Dr. Dundiff and Friends, which may have been an understatement with every inch of the stage covered with dozens of 'friends' including the very talented Tyler from 1200 music) who hit the Ocean Stage from 4:15-5:30. Dr. Dundiffs various mixtapes of patchwork 90s style beats such as Alphabeats vo.1 or verse heavy stylings of Page of Cups do not at all represent the electrified energy Dr. Dundiff delivered onstage on Saturday afternoon; as if 1980s era Beastie Boys and double ought era Andrew W.K. hosted the biggest house party that could fit under an expressway overpass.
Speaking of overpasses, I truly love that Forecastle has a dedicated Hip Hop stage, But I can't think of a worse genre to put under a concrete block than hip hop. The natural reverb  could work if it was an acoustic folk or Americana stage, but for hip hop it destroys the sound too much.

Dr. Dundiff and Friends and concrete overpass

This distortion was barley noticeable during Dr. Dundiff due to the excitement onstage, especially during the last song when surprise guest Jim James appeared onstage to supply vocals to a very enthusiastic crowd. The natural distortion of the underpass was much more noticeable for the next act, california's IloveMakonen, which began around 6:45 to many false starts and half songs (including The Next Episode from Dr. Dre's Chronic 2001). All these false starts and half songs may have been due to  the sound quality being poor, but Makonen kept at it, with his patented off-the-cuff style of raping over treble heavy beats. I was surprised he didn't play   "Wishing You Well" but he managed to play his hit single Tuesday (albeit in 2 segments spliced into the set) as well as brand new unreleased tracks.

Crowd at My Morning Jacket

The real draw on Saturday was, of course, hometown heroes My Morning Jacket, who played for an electric 2 hours to end the day. The band kicked off the set with Believe (Nobody Knows) the first track from their new album The Waterfall to a very enthusiastic crowd and continued on a romp through their impressive catalogue including 2005's Off The Record as well as their new single Spring (Among the Living). The band ended their set just after midnight to a packed crowd with the explosive One Big Holiday from 2006's Okonokos album. It was great finale to Day 2 of Forcastle 2015!

My Morning Jacket into the night

 My Morning Jacket finale: One Big Holiday

Forecastle 2015 Day 1 Review

        It took a minute to get down here from Cincinnati so by the time I actually got into the festival, Cage the Elephant had been playing for fifteen minutes or so. The crowd was pretty tight when the show first started, but loosened up as the band did. The last time I'd seen them was at Starry Nights Music Fest in 2012, and the difference from then till now was incredible, like their stage presence has gained momentum with their career. As I got closer to the stage one man walking past me remarked "That guy is an animal" in reference to Matt Schultz, whose stage antics displayed the energy of a four year old. Matthan Minster stepped away from the keyboard and picked up a guitar to join Brad and Nick in the arpeggios for "Shake Me Down" which hovered over the audience like a thick fog.
         For their closer, "Sabertooth Tiger," Matt sang the first verse from the stage, then took to the audience with his microphone. It took him nearly a minute to get off the stage then over the barricade to his fans, sometimes rolling around surfing the crowd, others standing on top of them to sing his final verses. It was oddly reminiscent of Ian Svenonius' antics.

         Houndmouth took the Boom Stage in the middle of Cage's set. It was cool to see a hometown band that was scheduled for the Port Stage just two years before come back to a crowd that was anxious to see them. They've maintained all the same charms that they had when we last spoke to them, but with a nuance that comes with only experience. They also had an ASL translator stage left of the band, which I thought was really cool.

         Forecastle has always had a good ear for hip-hop acts, but the bulk of these end up on the Ocean Stage. On one hand, it's cool to have a stage that's almost exclusively for rap and dance music. On the other, the Ocean Stage is located directly under an overpass, which just naturally causes a large amount of reverberation. This is only exacerbated by the loud, bass-heavy, nature of the music that's most often slated for that stage. Remember when Run the Jewels played in 2013? The same thing happened for Big K.R.I.T.'s set this year. He delivered an incredible performance, but the sound quality was awful. Talib Kweli made a surprise appearance and everyone went apeshit when he played "I Got This."

         

Logan's Forecastle 2015 Picks

I get so excited every time Forecastle comes around. Here's some of the bands I'm particularly excited for this year:

Friday-

 Cold War Kids.
I haven't kept up with this band since their second album, but I was really into those first two when I was in High School so it'll be really cool to see what these guys have been up to these past few years.

 Big K.R.I.T.
That dirty south hip hop. This is a weird one for me because Houndmouth is playing at the same time as KRIT so I'm gonna' be bouncing back and forth. Seems like a good problem to have.



 Saturday-

 Dr. Dundiff and Friends.
I've been telling everyone for the last few years to keep an eye on Louisville hip hop and all my northern friends look at me like I'm crazy. Hyped to see another local act after Jalin Roze last year. I'm also curious who's gonna' be with him.


 Twin Peaks
Some feel good summer music. I haven't had a chance to see these guys yet, and I feel like I'm in the minority...


Sunday-
 Fat Tony.


White Reaper.
So proud of these guys. Excited to see what they do with an audience this size.


After that it's kind of tough because everyone else I want to see on Sunday is overlapped with someone else that I want to see.

John's Forecastle 2015 picks

Look Out! Forecastle 2015 starts with a bang tomorrow! Here is what I am looking forward to seeing:

Friday July 7th:

JEFF The Brotherhood 3:15pm Boom Stage
4 years ago 37FLOOD writer Camille turned us onto this band and we've been keeping track of them ever since. Read her review here.

Cage The Elephant 7:30 Main Stage
(Last year We suggested they bring in this Kentucky band, and glad to see them on the roster).
 

Saturday July 18th

Ilovemakonnen 6:15 Ocean Stage
This L.A. hip hop pop candy has a way of digging in with juicy hooks and off the cuff lyrics.


My Morning Jacket 9:15 Main Stage
Hometown heroes closing saturday night on the big stage.


Sunday July 18th
For my money, sunday is the best bet if you are planing to go for just one day..

The WFPK stage starts with a bang with
Twin Limb at 1:30
followed by White Reaper at 2:45
and Diarrhea Planet at 4:45.


at 5:45 Portugal. The Man plays at the boom stage



and Modest Mouse begins at 6:45 on the Main stage

Review: The Melvins @ Mercury Ballroom 7/6 (Louisville)

King Buzzo, Dale Crover, and Jeff Pinkus: The Melvins

The Melvins graced  Louisville at The Mercury Ballroom on July 6, to the loudest show to ever be preformed on a Monday.
Led by Buzz Osborne (King Buzzo) The Melvins -consisting of Osbourne, drummer Dale Crover, and Jeff Pinkus of Butthole Surfers fame- hit the stage at 9pm with an interesting, and yet not so out of place, a cappella intro before blasting into 'Hag Me' from their 1993 album 'Houdini'. The entire night was packed with their signature avant and experimental sounds that inspired a teenage Kurt Cobain back in the early1980s in Washington state.  It was in The Melvins practice space that Cobain met bassist Krist Novoselic, and the rest as they say is history.
In fact Cobain's first band, Fecal Matter, included both Osborne and Crover, Crover even suppling drums for the newly formed Nirvana before before the two relocated The Melvins to San Francisco in 1988.
Crover and Osborne have been consistently playing as The Melvins for over thirty years; astoundingly remaining creative and releasing relevant albums, so rare with bands after even reaching the decade mark.
Monday's show was an enthusiastic explosion with Buzzo dressed like a past and future space priest from both Egypt and Europa, romping around the stage, playing songs mostly from the 2014 album 'Hold It In', such as 'Bride of Crankenstien' and 'Sesame Street Meat' and the experimental 'Onions make the Milk Taste Bad' -with captivating drum solos by Crover- as well as gems from their extensive catalog  such as 'The Bit' from the 1996 album 'Stag'.

Jeff Pinkus and the Flying V bass

Jeff Pinkus, famed bassist for The Butthole Surfers, joined the Melvins in 2013 and appears on the 2014 album Hold It In, both as bassist as well as sharing lead vocal duties.  On monday night you would have hardly noticed that this trio hasn't been performing together for decades, melting seamlessly with each other, all three sharing lead time throughout the set, as if extensions from the same Sludge-Rock beast. Two Butthole Surfers songs were also played, 1987's 'Graveyard' and 1985's 'Moving to Florida'.

The Melvins with Teri Gender Bender 

Aside from continuing to release albums, The Melvins are credited with influencing many bands and genres including the widely successful Grunge movement of the Pacific Northwest.  Crover and Osborne have also collaborated with many artists and bands including Tool, Cows, and even with Mexican punk band Le Butcherettes; who opened for The Melvins at Mercury Ballroom, with front woman  Teri Gender Bender joining The Melvins for a cover of Pop-O-Pies "Fascists Eat Donuts" and Bikini Kill's "Rebel Girl" before the show devolved into a highly entertaining feedback/knob-turning experimental explosion by Jeff Pinkus.

Pinkus & Bender

the Jeff Pinkus Feedback Experience
(notice the Flying-V bass resting against the live cabinet)

Ravenna Colt regional appearances 6/16-18

In case you haven't heard, Country is back, and I couldn't be happier.. The last couple decades of commercialized country has given the genre a bad name, but good country has always remained, hidden in the shadows until recently. But don't call it Country, not just yet, too many people haven't accepted this new evolution, so for now it's called 'Americana.'
Johnny Quaid, formally of My Morning Jacket, has been making some waves in the Americana world recently, with his band The Ravenna Cult, and new LP "Terminal Current."
The Ravenna Cult will be playing Thursday July 16th at Haymarket Whiskey Bar in Louisville, and July 17th at the Drinkery in Cincinnati and Quaid himself  will be joining My Morning Jacket onstage at Forecastle Fest on the 18th.

Louisville Zombie Attack looking for support

    The 11th annual Louisville Zombie Attack is due this August 29th, drawing thousands of participants to the Highlands area and with them comes hundreds of thousands in estimated revenue for area bars, restaurants, and shops.  With numbers estimated near 40 thousand participants it may be surprising that the event it's self struggles to pay the permits and fees associated with keeping thousands of people safe. The event organizers rely on donations and sponsors to pay the estimated $10,000 needed to put on the event. In 2013 Zombie Attack put on a crowd funding campaign to help pay the bills, that astoundingly received less than a dozen donors and generating less than 1/3 of the money needed.
    The organizers have decided to try again this year, and after the first week of campaigning, have still not received a single dollar.  For a town that prides it's self on 'keeping Louisville Weird' as well as cherishing home-grown events, this seems a little shocking, especially for an annual event that is continually listed on top 10 regional events and attractions.
If you enjoy unique Louisville events, it may be time to pony up a buck or two, as well harass friends and gore fans to do the same.
      Find more information at the Louisville Zombie Attack crowd funding page here
or donate directly at Louisvillezombieattack.org/donate 

Gary Quick Photography 2012

Interview: Tammy Rogers of The Steeldrivers

Grammy nominated nashville contemporary folk band The Steeldrivers are playing Forecastle on July 19th, so we interviewed fiddler Tammy Rogers about their new album, The Muscle Shoals Recordings, their experience with Rounder Records, as well as fashion advice.

The Steeldrivers. Tammy Rogers in center (with cape).

37. is this your first time playing Louisville

TR.  Yes, first time playing the Forecastle festival!  But we have played once before in a small club.

37. What are you most looking forward to at Forecastle/Louisville besides playing?

TR. I always look forward to hearing other bands....we have made some great friends that way!  Meeting backstage and hanging out or getting the chance to hear someone for the first time.

37. You have had a great response to your new Muscle Shoals Recordings; Muscle Shoals AL has a legendary music history from the Booker T and the MGs to the classic recordings of Etta James, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Rolling Stones, and recently with the Black Keys; How was your experience recording in one of Music's most hallowed grounds?

TR. We had a great experience recording down in the Shoals.  I think we all relaxed a bit and tried to get into a little different mindset than when we have recorded in Nashville.

37. Rounder Records also has a special place in American Music, home to traditional and folk greats such as Mike and Peggy Seeger as well as non-traditionalists like Jonathan Richman and They Might Be Giants; How has your experience been working with such a long lasting and wide-spanning record label? 

TR. I had more records that Rounder had released than any other label when I was young so it has been a great honor for me to be affiliated with them and the history that they have!  They have been incredibly supportive of the SteelDrivers from the very beginning.  I really don't think we could have found a better fit for our music.

37. What are the benefits, both in style and performance, for wearing capes? 
TR. Capes are cool!  And it was actually quite chilly the day we did the photo shot back in December so the cape was quite practical as well!

Review: DEATH GRIPS @ The Metro 6-30-15 (Chicago)

         We at 37flood have always been huge fans of Death Grips. Whether you're into punk, hip-hop, metal, or glitch they have something for everyone. Well... maybe not everyone but for a group that's so abrasive and shrouded in mystery they really seem to bring people together in a weird way. Through the onslaught of synthesizers and samples and the ambush of MC Ride's delivery, I think there's something in the way their lyrics embrace (and sometimes beleaguer) mortality that everyone can relate to, even if you don't talk to aliens or kill people.
         As the mysterious I.L.Y.'s EP "I've Always Been Good at True Love" played over the P.A., the floor level was packed to the back bar with hip-hop heads, floral patterns, annoyed girlfriends, and stiff shoulders. But, when Zach, Flatlander, and Ride abruptly sauntered onto the stage and into a "Powers that B" freestyle over the first "Runway E," there was an equally abrupt rush to the stage.

         The first song was interrupted by "Takyon (Death Yon)," and this pattern continued; no opener, no dialogue. I'm not sure if eleven hundred people ever felt like so many to me as it did in the first hour of this sold out show before I wrestled to the bar for a water and to make sure that I'd only lost my hat. It wasn't a mosh because there was no room for that kind of movement. We were packed in like a can of sardines being violently shaken. It seemed like everyone knew all the words too. Everywhere I looked were people screaming and ducking down every few seconds trying to catch a breath, or elbow someone in the ribs.

         Death Grips delivered an impressive 23-song set, flexing their entire catalogue for somewhere around two hours. Their sound was deafening to the point that it seemed all three of them were trying to play louder than the other two. One thing that surprised me about the performance was the cohesion between Zach Hill and Flatlander during songs like "Hacker" and "Inanimate Sensation." Zach's weird barrage style of drumming was complimented by Flatlander's glitch beats in a way that never quite translates even on their most live-drum oriented recordings. MC Ride was the tidal wave of a post-apocalyptic prophet who's trying to kill you that he's always been. That guy is a force of nature; sometimes howling through songs like "Get Got," and barking through "Hustle Bones" and "You Might Think He Loves You for Your Money but I Know What He Really Loves You for It's Your Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat." When they finished their closer, "I Want It I Need It (Death Heated)," they got up and left just as quickly as they took the stage (without a word), and I got my hat back.

July 4th @ Zanzabar

Happy July 4th! Spend it in style at the Zanzabar with "All you can eat" brunch, Bloody Marys, Pinballs, and cartoons. It doesn't get more America than this.

MoonTower tix Winner

moontowermusicfestival.com

The winner of 2 tickets to Moontower Music Festival on August 29th in Lexington is
Lallie Mae!
Congrats Lallie, have fun seeing Moon Taxi, J. Roddy Walston & The Business, and plenty more!
For the complete lineup of Moontower Music fest 2015 please visit:

Twitter: @MoonTowerMF

Web: moontowermusicfestival.com

Instagram: @moontowermusicfestival

Facebook: MoonTower Music Festival