Brazilian Girls 03/03/06 Review
Now Playing: The Brazilian Girls - Don't Stop
Topic: Music
The doors to 9:30 Club opened at 9:00pm and The Brazilian Girls, scheduled for 11pm were closer to 11:30pm before taking the stage. It was a little empty at 9pm and remained so until closer to 11pm; I'd hoped it would fill up b/c I love their music and wanted to see the place packed. So after a beer and a couple G&Ts, which were quite expensive as DCist pointed out (luckily the bartender was pouring strong), I kept thinking they better put on a damn good show for all this standing around and consuming of $6 drinks. The lights started to change a little and the fans upfront kept looking stage right and then, yes, BZ took the stage. All I can say is unbelievable, they delivered a truly kick ass show that kept you enthralled for the entire set. Sabina, I don’t what she was wearing but you couldn't take your eyes off of her (or the outfit); she kept getting drinks and even taking a few from the crowd.

Below is my live note-taking (moblogging was working, sorry, I'm not that hardcore) during the show, so excuse the incompleteness:

Track #1-- was new, not sure what it was
Track #2-- in French w/ a good beat
Track #3—Lazy Lover (and Sabina grabs a tequila from a friend offstage, drinks it, and tosses it over her head and keeps going)
-- The lighting on this song was amazing, white to red
Track #4-- Sabina grabs the video camera and pans across the entire crowd. Featured an amazing trombone solo that would have made my cousin Will (a professional bass trombone player) really proud. The trombonist was playing at crack speed, literally.
Track #5-- slowed down song
Track #6-- not sure, “On China…”
Track #7-- “Homme Me Gusta”
Track #8-- “Don’t Stop”—perhaps the highlight of the night, it got everybody so pumped up, awesome
Track #9-- not sure, had an airy sound
Track #10-- some new song in French, good beat
Track #11- the classic, “P*ssy,” which the trombone player killed and the band played for an extended time
BZ leaves and then…encore…
Track #12-- new song?
Track #13-- Dance Till the Morning Sun, played for a long time and Sabina had the crowd join the m on stage

An amazing show, I can still feel it and my head is still moving from that Friday night, now a full two weeks ago. "Don’t Stop" has become my new walking to work song; there’s no better way to start the day.

I found two Flickr photos (is that all there is D.C.?) or any blog reviews from the show. The best I could find was this review from their last show at 9:30. Feist had photos and even Jon Stewart back in Roch. had photos, but alas, D.C. isn't representing.

Music Fun
Now Playing: Ben Gibbard - Complicated
Topic: Music
Great music thanks to mp3 blogs:

Fugees (Refugee Camp) Bootleg Version (zip file), circa '96

Sia - Live on KCRW (bootleg)

The Bens - EP (Ben Folds, Ben Kweller, and Ben Lee)

Josh Rouse - The Sweet Sounds of Josh Rouse

Nickel Creek - Toxic (among many great covers in this mix)

Damian Marley - Welcome to Jamrock

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Me: Nice trucker hat...
X: Yeah, I bought it at Kaufmann's...
Me: Was it in the Ashton Kutcher aisle...

{very long, very akward pause that sums up my skills at the bar}

Posted by cph19 at 1:12 AM EST

Updated: Monday, 19 December 2005 1:17 AM EST

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MP3 Blog Aggregators Replace P2P
Now Playing: Metroplis w/ Jason Bentley - KCRW
Topic: Music

Although Marco spurred me to finally post on this subject, mp3 blogs, I first thought about a couple weeks back when Dennis launched The Fire Through on MySpace. I was trying to figure out other ways to freely publicize and share the music with the rest of the internet world, beyond just the MySpace community (which is substantial, don't get me wrong).

Then there was Jose asking me a couple weeks back, after I emailed him this hilarious remake of Baby Got Back (mp3), "how the hell do you find this stuff?" It's my job. Here's how I do it: lots and lots of reading and mp3 blog aggregators.

My music listening habits have changed a lot over the last two years, as I've shifted from discovering new music from the traditional radio to discovering music through internet radio (KCRW almost exclusively). Now my music acquiring experience has shifted from P2P to blogs, specifically mp3 blog aggregators. I've found a lot of great music from the increasingly number of blogs that I've started reading over the last year or so. More often than not, blogs will post one or two songs from a new or favorite artist to give you a taste of the music. You can link to the 30-second clips on iTunes but why not post a whole track and let your blog readers decide whether the artist's album is worth purchasing. I'm of the faith that a few tracks out there for download actually benefits artists.

But searching blogs for mp3 can be tedious (although I do enjoy it, it's like trolling the aisles of a used record store because you never know what gems you may find). Enter mp3 blog aggregators:

The Internet Archive (the granddaddy of free mp3 files, not a blog but their collection is massive)

The Hype Machine (add it to your Firefox search drop-down)

Stereogum

Elbo.ws

Odeo (geared towards podcasts but still effective for finding mp3)

Mp3 blog aggregators aren't my discovery, they are a natural outgrowth of blogs, rss feeds, and good search/cache services-- Audio RSS for Generation Lazy. What's new to me, though, is how easily I've transitioned from using P2P to using mp3 blogs for finding mp3s. The gradual transition has been an evolution and not a revolution, for two reasons:

WinMX shut its doors, so I started searching for new avenues to mps

Tons of great, thought-provoking blogs that also share similar musical tastes as mine (buttressed by services like Last.fm)

For example, one of my current favorites and often cited, Fred Wilson's VC blog. Fred posts about a lot of great subjects, from technology to VC and everything in between for those on the cutting edge of internet development. Additionally, he likes great music and he and his family do a weekly podcast, Positively 10th Street, highlighting new and old music that they're playing in heavy rotation.

Mp3 blogs and blog aggregators are more examples of apps moving online (yes, the 'ol Web 2.0 moniker), where the internet becomes the platform. Forget P2P, I can now find most of the music that I want (read- good music that most commercial FM stations would never play) from mp3 blogs.

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Speaking of good 'ol traditional radio, support WBER by voting in their 2005 Listener Countdown. As much as I'd like to, you can only pick from the list of songs that the station has played over the last year (which means you can choose your favorites unless they're on the list) so choose wisely.

Lastly, following up on the funny Slate article on the worst track of 2005, here's the Arcade Fire & Black Eyed Peas mashup called "Hump My Tunnel" that sums up all of 2005 (almost, according to Stereogum).

Currently Listening: Metroplis w/ Jason Bentley - KCRW

Posted by cph19 at 12:01 AM EST

Updated: Thursday, 15 December 2005 12:19 AM EST

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The Fire Through
Now Playing: The Fire Through - A Slight Numb
Topic: Music
I don't get a lot of traffic here but if I can spread the word about a buddy's new band, I'm more than happy to help.

"Rochester, NY based band looking to form something solid and truthful. Currently in the process of recording with a total of 8 original tracks layed down, The Fire Through is Evan Wormwood (drums/bass/singer) and Dennis Gaebel (Lead/Rhytm Guitar/Singer)."

Give a listen to their two tracks, "A Slight Numb" and "Funktion Sober" via The Fire Through on MySpace.