Countdown to Shadows

The New Division just released "Shallow Play", the second single from upcoming debut LP Shadows, which is already getting attention from Prefixmag. Catch them performing this and other jams at Soda Bar in San Diego tomorrow or at the Shadows release party in Claremont at the Hip Kitty on the 29th [RSVP].

If you're not in SoCal to catch a show (my current situation), console yourself with frontman John's latest solo effort, "The One Thing I Can't Have":

WHYY Connections Festival

Watch the full episode. See more On Canvas.

If you're available Saturday (which I won't be), go check out the free concert local PBS affiliate WHYY is putting on at Penn's Landing. Expect great music from Kyo Daiko, Toy Soldiers, Birdie Busch, Kuf Knotz, The Baseball Project, Justin Townes Earle, and local legends Dr. Dog.

Grab a free download from blues outfit Toy Soldiers [here] and be there at 2 PM Saturday for the show!

It's the Common Ground

This week's It's the Common Ground was a producer showcase, which was an enjoyable night out, but not so easy to review for you. Peep tracks from the dudes showcasing their skills [here] and enjoy the above video of Speak's throwdown last week.

Show Review: The New Division at The Crescent Jewell

The Crescent Jewell is a restaurant and lounge in downtown Riverside that generally hosts jazz musicians, but occasionally allows certain promoters to bring in pop acts. On one of these occasions, I ventured in to see TND play, along with local rapper and TND collaborator David Reddix, Jr. Unfortunately, the blown sound system had other plans.

After a brief attempt at a set, including an admirable rendition of recent single "Saturday Night" that went over remarkably well with the gathered hipsters, all things considered, Kunkel and company called it a night. Reddix took the stage squad deep, ran through abbreviated versions of a couple of possible bangers, and then did the same. I left before the touring headliner to save my ears the harassment, went back to the apartment I now share with TND beatmaker Janzie (aka Vaab), and consoled myself with the recently released official video for "Starfield":

Show Review: Death Cab For Cutie

Death Cab is currently finishing up a tour of the rock clubs they used to play before they blew up, and my sister, my girlfriend, and I were fortunate enough to be able to get tickets to see them at the Troc in Philly, despite Ticketmaster frustrations verging on LCD Soundsystem proportions. Despite it being my birthday and the day of my sister's high school graduation, we arrived just after the doors opened and were soon inside and up front in plenty of time for openers The Lonely Forest to take the stage.
photo by my sister
Frontman John Van Deusen got the crowd's attention immediately with his Philadelphia Flyers jersey and apparently self-tailored Dickies, then locked it in with sharp pop vocals kept front and center in the remarkably good live mix. There were a few definite earworms in the Washington state outfit's repertoire, and myself and many others began picking up on choruses right away. The entire band seemed enthralled just being on stage playing their music, and their cheerful, upbeat demeanor successfully distracted from the sometimes too overt Death Cab influences of an opening act signed to and produced by guitarist Chris Walla's Trans Records. Here's the video for standout track "Turn Off This Song And Go Outside", filmed on the Fourth of July in their hometown:
Say what you like about the resounding successes of Ben Gibbard and company; they are genuine artists with a real love of their music and its fans. Sellouts don't play sets including tracks from cassette tape releases and more songs from before Transatlanticism than from Codes and Keys, which they are ostensibly touring. This was not a show for the uninitiated, with a deep track selection spanning the length and breadth of the Death Cab oeuvre. Their stage presence was compelling, and in general substantially more rock-oriented than I expected-Gibbard's acoustic guitar only took a dominant role for his solo rendition of Plans hit "I Will Follow You Into The Dark". A lengthy first set, brief respite filled with a deafening roar from the crowd, and an encore verging on second set status left a very well satisfied audience. In a trope becoming somewhat familiar given the number of shows I've seen at the Troc, the band apparently loves the venue. I think their music is better suited to more intimate spaces, and the former burlesques is nothing if not intimate. I'm very glad I caught them there, rather than at the Mann for their next Philadelphia show.

The Fox and the Hound Show - 4/26/11

The last time we had Bishop's Garden perform on the show, we crammed their full band into the green room of the WVMM studios. They rocked a bit too hard for such a small space and the microphones couldn't quite handle it, which left our listeners with an incorrect impression of the Annapolis outfit's sound. This time around, frontman Joe Memmel and guitarist/songwriter Paul Bowers gave us a stripped-down acoustic performance that left us even more impressed than we had been previously.

Show Review: Brand New w/ Robbers

The last concert of my Messiah career was both sold out and substantially harder than any other. Unlike the last time I saw them, Brand New was not touring an album, and was therefore free to fill my night (and everyone else's) with the old songs we fell in love with as teenagers. But before Brubaker Auditorium erupted into a massive sing-along, we were subjected to some rather strange experiences.

photo courtesy of Angela Darte

True to form, the difficult-to-classify Long Island rockers brought another genre-busting hometown act with them on tour. Robbers are an upbeat bunch with a histrionic frontman whose Afro and mannerisms had the audience incessantly shouting for various Hendrix songs. Unfortunately for any other impressions they may have made, their set was abruptly interrupted by a kid in the front row who was having a seizure. Security inexplicably chose to keep him in the middle of the floor and stop the show until EMS arrived, truncating the performance drastically.

photo courtesy of Amanda Fox

As Brand New took the stage, the crowd erupted with cheers and cameras (despite a regulation attempting to deter the latter). Peppering a set of songs that the college-age and up crowd had grown up to with a few recent roars from Daisy and college radio staples from the critically-acclaimed The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, Jesse Lacey and company masterfully worked their audience into a frenzy. As Lacey was left alone on stage for a more intimate set, it became clear just how much Brand New means to their fans, and "Soco Amaretto Lime" seemed the perfect sendup of and sendoff to our college days:

The Fox and the Hound Show with Will Millar

This Tuesday Will Millar stopped by for a live performance on our show to promote his entry in the Blue Microphone Songwriting Competition with guitarist Phil Smith (ex-Troubador). You can vote for "Iridescence" here: http://www.indabamusic.com/#!/submissions/show/43775, although doing so will no longer win you a copy of The Decemberists' latest effort The King is Dead, as it did for Valerie Nogueras.

The Fox and the Hound Show - 2/8/11

This week's radio show was a blast, minus some technical difficulties. Remember to become a fan of The Fox and the Hound on Facebook!

The Fox And The Hound Show - 2/8/11 by The_Fox_And_The_Hound on Mixcloud

Show Review: The New Division

On 1/11/11, The New Division released their EP, The Rookie. The release party, at Division 9 Gallery in their hometown of Riverside, CA, was the first time I actually got to see them live. The show was well-attended, especially for a Tuesday, and the crowd packed out the back half of the gallery, still displaying pieces from the Day of the Dead celebration a while back.

My girlfriend and I arrived a little late, and gravitated toward the flashing lights and pulsing beat from the back of the room. The band had just launched into their set with an older track, and proceeded to play through the EP in order, beginning with internet-hyped single "Starfield". One song was skipped due to the absence of the new live drummer, whose kit was locked in the church that he also plays for. I was impressed with John Kunkel's ability to replicate his ethereal vocals live, and Janz's replacement of the drummer's fills with his live programming. Most of the crowd stuck around a while after the show to talk to the band, purchase merch, or finish up the band-provided wine bar. It was a good show, and I look forward to seeing them again. If you aren't in California, you can download the EP here and look forward to the release of the video for "Starfield" in February. I got a sneak preview, and it's awesome.

Art Kraft.wav by The New Division

Show Review: Chiddy Bang & Kingsfoil

On November 13, I got to see a blog-hyped artist that actually was everything they were cracked up to be. Philly's own Chiddy Bang-former Drexel students Chidera "Chiddy" Anamege and Noah "Xaphoon Jones" Beresin-have been pumping out tracks sampling MGMT, Passion Pit, Ellie Goulding, and a bunch of other names likely to be found on this blog and elsewhere, eventually getting signed by a major label after exposure on Pretty Much Amazing.

Live, Chiddy raps and Xaph plays a drum kit (which they ask the venue to provide, evidently). They did a set of old and new material, focusing heavily on the recently released EP The Preview, the only collection of Chiddy Bang material actually for sale. The others, mixtapes The Swelly Express and Air Swell, are available for free download [hint: click the titles]. "Pass Out", from the latter tape, was definitely a crowd favorite, probably because of the number of students who have spent time in England for study abroad and love Tinie Tempah. Lead single "Opposite of Adults", which samples MGMT's "Kids", got the biggest reaction, as expected. Interaction between songs was generally limited to the usual hip-hop hype-man antics, with the exception of an impressive freestyle method involving writing ideas from the crowd on paper plates and then handing them to Chiddy one after the other as he goes in.

Local stalwarts Kingsfoil opened after SAB agonized for weeks over the choice and ended up too late to do anything more in-genre (like my suggestions Brite Futures or B.Reith). They remind me for some reason of a cross between Bon Jovi and Switchfoot. The Swinging Bridge got an interview with them here (Chiddy said no interviews).

There was some controversy after the show, as memebers of Chiddy's entourage were racially profiled by local police and accused of smoking marijuana. No proof was found, but their car was impounded and the whole crew had to come back the next day to pick it up and pay a fine for smoking tobacco in a non-smoking area (i.e. Messiah campus). SAB's explanation (and lead-up article in the Bridge) can be found here.

Show Review: SALT House #2/Fox and the Hound Live

My second time providing audio for a SALT House Concert was actually at the Reconciliation House. Phil had booked Jamie Kent & the Options and Chicken Little to play on a Tuesday night, and then found out he had to go on a required field trip to NYC for a class that day. Resulting lack of publicity and coordination led to Jared and I hanging out with Jamie Kent and his band at the Recon House until more people got there. When "more people" meant one girl, one guy who lived there, and Chicken Little, we decided it would be better to kick this punk rock style and have them play an unauthorized show onstage at the Union.

Jamie Kent & the Options captured the attention of those eating and studying around the room quickly with their breezy, upbeat blues-folk, good humor, and a singalong Beatles cover. Their set ran into the time for our radio show, so Jared went and kicked things off on-air while I watched their merch. Just after Chicken Little took the stage to play what I can only describe as polka punk, I took Jamie's trio into the V to set them up for a live performance. The duo had the Union clapping and stomping along in no time; I only wish I had gotten to see more of their set.

Having two bands on air was complicated by the fact that we already had two artists scheduled to come on the show to interview/perform to advertise an upcoming show at The Station: Stacey Dee and Suzi Brown. Somehow we managed to squeeze in a few songs from each artist, DJing occasionally in between. Stacey and Suzi collaborated on each other's singer-songwriter material and Suzi played some intense fingerstyle guitar (a la Kaki King), and we ended the night by recording all of them doing a liner for The Fox and the Hound Show that you should be hearing on air next semester.

Show Review: Go Tell It On The Mountain Tour

My friends at the Restoration House and in Earthkeepers arranged for the Go Tell It On The Mountain tour to drop by SouthSide Cafe one Tuesday night. The tour, sponsored by Christian environmentalist group Restoring Eden, featured a multimedia presentation on mountaintop removal coal mining, accompanied by soulful bluegrass and folk by singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Martin.

For those who aren't familiar, mountaintop removal involves blowing up the tops of mountains to access the coal beneath, destroying ecosystems and ruining air and water for the surrounding communities. This practice has been ruining Appalachia for years, so what better way to protest than with the folk music its people are famous for? Martin's plaintive melodies provided the perfect backdrop to the deeply sorrowful images and videos on the screen, though he lightened the mood with a follow-up set later on.

Since I provided the audio equipment for the show/presentation, we were able to have Aaron come perform live later that night on The Fox and the Hound. Since it was our first live on-air performance, we jury-rigged it, pointing one mic at him and the other at his guitar. Just as we expected, our listeners loved it, and we've been playing tunes from his album on the show ever since.

Show Reviews: October B-sides

B-sides this past month was quite the mixed bag. Clare and the Reasons led off on October 6th with soothing chamber pop. To be honest, it provided a pleasant background to socializing more than anything else, mostly due to a lack of rhythm. I would highly recommend them as homework listening. I almost they would return, rather than some of the more interactive acts that have been performing when I need to get work done.

Next up was local outfit Captain of Compliments, who apparently had broken up for months and chose this as their first show back. They evidently didn't think they needed much practice, and it showed. Their supposedly genre-defying sound just sounded like a disorganized collection of songs that didn't know what they were trying to be, an impression only increased by their spastic stage presence. I think it was the 5th b-sides I've walked out of in 3 years on campus.
If the first two shows of October weren't my cup of tea, the final one made up for it in spades. Not one but two up-and-coming hardcore acts graced the stage in Larsen Student Union on the 27th. New Jersey openers Where the Ocean Meets the Sky were the more impressive act from my perspective, with virtually flawless vocals, even while soloing and singing clean vocal simultaneously, showing the benefits of maturity. An Early Ending was definitely the crowd favorite, however, with a much bigger group getting on their feet and moving around a little (to the extent that pacifists mosh) when they hit the stage. A more youthful group, they are supposedly poised to be the next Texas in July (who are supposed to be the next August Burns Red), and evidently the local kids agree. I spent some time talking to both bands afterward, and they all seemed like genuinely nice guys.They were much less dissatisfied than I with the stillness of the crowd, swapping horror stories about various venues out on tour. And for the record, the frontman of WTOMTS is not Zach Galifianakis.

Letters from the Prom - California Tour

For those who don't know, in February I became the manager for Marc Seeley, aka Letters from the Prom. We are currently on tour in southern California. Tonight is the first show at Coffee Depot, the largest coffeehouse in America. Here are the dates, click for more info:

April 28 @ Coffee Depot
May 1 @ Viento y Agua

Meanwhile, check out this video:

New Release: Freeway & Jake One - The Stimulus Package

If anyone was wondering how to release a physical album in 2010, Freeway has the answer. His latest effort, a collaboration with producer Jake One entitled "The Stimulus Package", has the best packaging I have ever seen, along with a great promotional campaign through Rhymesayers Entertainment culminating in the release party at the Troc about a month ago. Check out these videos and go pick up a copy if you want to see CD and/or vinyl packaging done properly.

CD packaging


Vinyl packaging


Discussing the album


Release party at the Troc


Live on Jimmy Fallon w/ the Roots


Catch Freeway at a free in-store performance at Ubiq tonight from 8-11!

DJing in Oxford

Hey kids!

I just DJed part of the final bop for this term at Trinity College, where I've been studying this semester.

For those who don't know, bops are themed parties in the college bars (yes, British colleges have bars, the drinking age being 18 and all that).

If you aren't familiar with my DJing, I primarily use a program called MixMeister Fusion, which my old roommate Chris pirated for me after I got addicted to it by playing around in the studios at the V (WVMM, 90.7, Messiah College Radio). It's kind of cheating, as the program does automatic beat detection and matching, but it makes things simple so I can focus on rocking a party instead of the technical aspects of mixing (and also avoids the co$t of turntables).

I made an hour and a half long premix for the gig, was told I had an hour, so I chopped it down, then told I had as long as I wanted once I got there, and it ended up being about an hour and ten minutes. Here is the final live version (contains explicit language*):

If you like it, let me know and I'll post more (hopefully higher quality) mixes.

Bop Live Mix - Download MP3

Tracklisting:

1. The Takeover [feat. MC Dynamite] - Caspa
2. Bonkers [feat. Dizzee Rascal][Doorly Remix] - Armand Van Helden
3. Shots [feat. Lil' Jon] - LMFAO
4. American Boy [feat. Kanye West][Nadastrom Remix] - Estelle
5. Satisfaction [Radio Edit] - Benny Benassi
6. Move, Shake, Drop [Remix][feat. Flo Rida, Pitbull & Casely] - DJ Laz
7. I Love College [No Big Deal Remix] - Asher Roth
8. Swine Flu Skank - Pilot & J Star (of Rollin' G)
9. Day'n'Night [Crookers Remix] - Kid Cudi
10. Sweet Dreams [DJ Stranger Remix] - Eurythmics
11. Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes - K.I.G.
12. Without Me [Party Ben's Nobody Listens to Techno Remix] - Eminem
13. Somebody Told Me - The Killers
14. Kiss Kiss [feat. T-Pain][Raffertie's Explicit Remix] - Chris Brown
15. The Twist - Chubby Checker
16. Hey Ya! [Radio Edit] - Andre 3000
17. The Prayer - Bloc Party
18. Act A Fool [Ravestradamus Remix] - Flosstradamus
19. Last Day of School - Wylde Bunch
20. Party'n'Rave - Durrty Goodz
21. Keep It Goin' Louder [feat. Nina Sky & Ricky Blaze] - Major Lazer
22. Toad's Theme - Toadally Krossed Out
23. Use Somebody [RAC Remix] - Kings of Leon
24. Smells Like Teen Spirit [DJ Sega's Philly Club Remix] - Nirvana
25. Calabria [feat. Natasja] - Enur
26. The Anthem [feat. Lil' Jon] - Pitbull
27. Just Dance [Remix][feat. Kardinal Offishall] - Lady Gaga
28. Are You Gonna Be My Girl? - Jet
29. Kids - MGMT

* I do not have the edited versions of many of these songs, a large number of which were by request. Due to the last-minute mixing, I did not have time to edit them much myself. This was played live for adults in a bar, and if you are not used to the lyrical content of club-based music and/or hip-hop, you will most likely be offended and probably should not listen. If this is a concern for you, but you would like to hear a mix of mine, let me know and I will post one of my better-prepared ones. If you would like an edit of this, you can request that as well, but it may take a while and will not be true to the live experience.

Show Review: Vivian Girls, Veronica Falls

My first Oxford concert experience was completely unplanned. I was out with friends one night at the Jericho Tavern (which evidently hosted Radiohead's first public show) when I realized the upstairs music venue was hosting blog-buzz magnets Vivian Girls that evening. Never one to turn down an opportunity to see the opening act from M. Ward's last tour, but a bit poor for purchasing tickets, I snuck in, got thrown out, then marked my hand with a friend's sharpie in the same way the people inside had theirs marked.

Soon after the accomplishment of this ingenious plan, the last 'local' opener came on: London's Veronica Falls. Fitting right in with the indie-rock girl-group vibe of the evening, their lineup was evenly split between males and females. Walking basslines, jangly surf-rock riffs overdriven to approximate shoegaze walls of sound, and propulsive drumming supported tight vocal harmonies that would have been reminiscent of the Beach Boys if not for the female lead. This is indie rock, but with a pop sensibility: short, catchy numbers that leave the listener wanting more rather than wondering when it will end.

Straight outta Brooklyn, Vivian Girls is one of those bands that is great because Pitchfork said so. With the amount of blog hype around this 3-piece girl group, perhaps I just expected too much, but that is more a criticism of the hype than my judgment. Indistinguishable churning riffs, lackadaisical drumming, and "harmonies" that sounded more like drunken singalongs did not contribute to my otherwise pleasant show-going experience, so I left about halfway through the set and wandered off to find my misplaced friends. Evoking Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" is all well and good as long as it is constructed out of music, and shoegaze can lead to greatness for technically proficient musicians, but Vivian Girls accomplish neither.

Show Review: Switchfoot

I arrived at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza at about four in the evening, the sky was cloudy, the sun was going down, and the temperature was freezing - so why was there a line of people outside three hours before doors? I was about to find out. Switchfoot is a multi platinum, Grammy nominated band from San Diego, California, but despite their mainstream success, they did something very independent and risky for this tour. The gigs were titled "An Evening with Switchfoot" - no opening acts, long meet and greets with their hardcore fans, and a band playing every song in order off of their latest album before playing one hit.

Although I saw a few kids, the show was a 16 plus show in a not-so-nice section of New York City on a Tuesday night. Despite these setbacks, the show was sold out, just like every other show of the tour. The Fillmore is a small concert room inside a large venue above a better known venue: Irving Plaza, which is in the basement of the building. Because of the size of the room, the bass was relatively louder than most shows. Bass can be tricky to work with in small rooms due to the fact that it easily overpowers the other instruments with more treble such as electric guitar and vocals, but that was not the case at The Fillmore. The band came out on time about an hour after doors, as stated before, the band played the entirety of their latest release "Hello Hurricane" in order. Even though the album was just released, a large part of the crowd seemed to know the words to every song.

The five members of Switchfoot proved they had a great ear for blending their instruments. Guitarist Andrew Shirley played more high end parts on his vintage Fender Telecaster while singer Jon Foreman made use of his PRS guitars endorsement by playing quieter, more low end parts on songs like "Meant to Live" and "Stars", which were both played that night as a bonus after the album was played through. Bassist Tim Foreman played with what appeared to be complete accuracy with drummer Chad Foreman holding down the beat in perfect timing. Jerome Fontamillas, who was staged more towards the back of the crowd, made a wide array of sounds by use of his keyboard, which sounded excellent in contrast to everything else.

By the end of the show, I found myself saying to myself "this was the best Switchfoot show I have ever seen". That means a lot figuring that it was my 16th Switchfoot show as of then.

-Phil Smith

[click here for video of him & his brother playing w/ Switchfoot @ the TLA]

Show Review: Alex Brubaker

Back in November, I booked Alex Brubaker for a show at Messiah's Philadelphia campus. For those who don't know or don't remember, Alex plays instrumental guitar, integrating diverse techniques such as percussive fingerstyle into his various experimental pieces [see here and here]. The show in Philly was accompanied by a cooking contest, during which Alex played a long set, followed by a short break and finishing with a few fan favorites.

apologies for the talking in the middle