Jamie Kohns on March 16th, 2006
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all! I am taking the day off to hang out at my favorite Irish pub, Fado, so there’s no Friday Mixtape. Mostly becuase I was trying to put together a SXSW mixtape, but had a list of over 50 tracks to include (and I’m not posting ALL of them).
Jamie Kohns on March 16th, 2006
Augustana seems to be one of those bands that has falled through the cracks- they have a great album, produced by Brendan O’Brien, they’ve been touring consistently since the completion of their album All The Stars And Boulevards, yet they seem to have been passed over by radio and critics alike. Playing at The Earl last night, Augustana seemed not to care what the critics thoght, or whether they had a radio hit- they played full-out for the audience that was present. The sound at The Earl was just reprehensable, with vocals being almost completely drowned out by the unbalanced bass (most likely due to poorly a EQ’ed system in a terrible room). Damnwells opened the show for Augustana, and sounded quite similar to them- almost too similar.
What is it about bar owners that makes them think that if they put a 10″ riser in the corner of whatever open space they have, add a massive sound system and some lights that it’s now called a “music venue”? Oh, that’s right- money. They can charge covers for entertainment now, and still sell drinks without having to spend the money on atmosphere. I don’t care if the walls are covered in cheap acoustic foam tiles, or if the ceiling is open or the floor bare- just make sure that you’ve paid attention to the acoustics, and done whatever you can to optomise the sound of the room. It’s not necessary to pack a million-watt sound system into a 10-by-20 room- and get a sound person that actually knows somethign about mixing sound- not the kid from your church that does the mics on Sundays.
This started as a mini-review of last night’s live show, and has ended as a rant. I can’t focus…enjoy some pics from my (crappy) cameraphone:
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…and some music:
Augustana - Boston
Augustana - Stars And Boulevards
Damnwells - Assholes (this was realy fun live)
Jamie Kohns on March 16th, 2006
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I’m a sucker for cover songs- but why do certain songs lend themselves so easily to covers? It’s like everybody hears the original and goes “oh, I could do that“! Whatever, my point is only to introduce this afternoon’s selection of music to you: Queens of the Stone Age’s No One Knows, as done by:
The Dresden Dolls - No One Knows |
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