Buzz Buzz

Last night, I saw Jamie Lidell at the Getty in L.A. ... it was a free concert, so it was a real sweet deal, I'd say.
But man was I expecting something different. To tell the truth, my expectations were a bit on the low side. I respected Lidell's chops -- man can he sing, especially for a white German dude -- but I never was able to really get into his stuff. It's a bit of soul, a bit of R&B, a bit of funk ... and I guess that ain't my thing ...
And I'd say that still, I can't actually sit down and listen to the album. But man was this live show awesome. He had (a) amazing stage presence, (b) a great sense of humor, and (c) played some fantastic stuff. Okay, so what he'd often do was record a beat or bass or something with his voice, loop it, mess around with it, add some effects, and then layer all of these samples and loops together on top of each other. So I guess the end product was German dance music, but it was so much more than that, and he always had at least some part of each song reserved for singing ... so he stayed at least a little true to the album.
Fantastic ... it's always really inspiring to see someone who's not working with a whole lot physically (i.e. a guitar, drums, etc.), but still being able to really get the crowd going. (Check out this video of Jamie Lidell to get a good idea of how different his live stuff is from his album stuff.)
I had many pictures, but my memory card fritzed out, and now I've lost them all ...

Okay -- now, on to *news* ...
Chin Up Chin Up has a new album coming out in October called This Harness Can't Ride Anything, and from the few tracks I've heard, it's sounding pretty damn good. Looking forward to this one. The guitar interplay has gotten more intricate and deeper, the vocals have become stronger and more persistent, and the rhythm has really come together. I'm sure they'll give a strong product, but I'm not certain as to how much I'll enjoy their new super-clean, reinvigorated selves. We'll see ...

And I've been meaning to post about this band for days ... the Eastern Stars. Really cute little folk-inspired group here. One of the dudes from Mixel Pixel teamed up with two cute female singers, and now they play around with experimental folk kind of stuff. I enjoy anything that uses a Moog, so I can't complain here ...

Chin Up Chin Up - This Harness Can't Ride Anything
the Eastern Stars - They Know What to Do
the Eastern Stars - The Diamonds In Your Eyes