I've been a music fan since my parents gave me a record player for Christmas when I was still in grade school. The first record I remember owning was "Sesame Street Disco." I've been a professional writer since 2004, but writing long before that. My first published work was in a middle school literary magazine and was a story about a zoo in which the animals could talk.
Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Middle Waves Music Festivalhas released its 2017 lineup, and it includes some festival favorites for you.
Headlining the show is none other than MGMT, who just headlined the first night of the 2017 Mamby on the Beach festival and are promoting new material. Other notable names on the list include Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Shannon and the Clams, the Lemon Twigs, and Flint Eastwood. The lineup list is a good mix of folk, pop, punk, electronica, and hip-hop. There’s also a good mix of local artists like Left Lane Cruiser, Flamingo Nosebleed, Belle and the Strange, and Love Hustler.
More acts will be announced soon, and tickets are now available. A general admission weekend pass will cost you just $75, which is a steal. Even if you can’t afford that, three of the four stages at Middle Waves are free to the general public.
I’m not surprised that Goat’s Commune opens with a track called “Talk to God,” because a Goat album (let alone a live performance) feels like a direct transmission from another plane where beings beyond our understanding dwell and bless us with insight and wisdom.
Goat, the mysterious Swedish voodoo rock band, had another solid record that went straight into my “Best of 2014” list with Commune. “Talk to God” hypnotizes you out of the gate with its Arabic / African guitar licks, humming bass, and those sultry, mysterious female vocals (sexily singing “Call my name when you talk to God.”).
“Words,” with droning guitar that sounds like something Giorgio Moroder composed, furthers Goat’s theme of communing with things beyond our ken. The weird, high-pitched chants on “The Light Within” definitely sound like something from beyond this reality, and the guitar solo may well send you there.
“To Travel the Path Unknown” could be the theme of listening to any Goat album. You never know where it will lead you and it may change each time. The opening lyric claims, “There is only one true meaning of life, and that is to be a positive force in the constant creation of evolution.” Heavy stuff, but a Goat album is not for the weak. Don’t play one unless you are ready to face the consequences of an expanded mind.
“Goatchild” continues the band’s theme of using their name in at least one song title per record. It’s also the first song on their first two albums to feature male vocals, which contrast nicely with the duo female vocals throughout most of the tracks as the lyrics take us beyond the moon and sun.
“The spirit world is everything,” Goat claims on “Goatslaves.” They’re right, of course. This world here, in which I am typing a review that cannot truly encapsulate this record, is illusion. We are slaves to it because we fear what lies beyond the veil we keep over our eyes. The beats on this are so good they’re almost terrifying, which is just how Goat likes it. A bit of fear keeps you honest, and liars never do well in the spirit world.
“Hide from the Sun” is a magnificent song to take with you across the desert during your pilgrimage to a holy temple, an oasis full of sweet water and fruits and beautiful naked people, or the treadmill. Just don’t be surprised if you abandon that run on the treadmill for a good sweat in the sauna while listening to this track, because it may make you seek sweat lodge visions.
“Bondye” is a fantastic instrumental with swirling, mesmerizing beats that build to a frenzy best suited for whirling dervishes. Let it wash over you. It’s hard to write this even as I hear it. It tends to overwhelm everything else in your immediate sphere.
The album ends with a “Gathering of Ancient Tribes” (Notice the initials?). The vocals are powerful (chanting “Into the fire!” at one point), and the band behind them seems to be playing from a mountain temple for all in the valley below to hear. The guitar solo drops from Mount Olympus, gathering cacophony in its wake, until it hits you like an avalanche.
This is one of the most powerful, mind-altering records I’ve heard since, well, Goat’s first album. You aren’t the same after hearing a Goat album. It will bend your brain. Proceed with caution, but by all means – proceed.
The 2017 Sound on Sound Fest in McDade, Texas’ Sherwood Forest has unveiled one of the best lineups of any summer music festival so far this year. Perhaps the two biggest coups for SOS are Iggy Pop (who can retire whenever he wants) and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs – who haven’t performed since 2013.
Other standouts include stoner metal giants Sleep, Boris, and Electric Wizard (performing their only set in the U.S. this year), Ministry, Dinosaur Jr., Digable Planets, Austra, Blanck Mass, Holy Wave, and a DJ set by Hot Chip.
They have three-day camping passes, VIP tickets, and general tickets ($189 plus taxes and shipping for a weekend pass) on sale now (and layaway plans), so get your tickets while you can.
Keep your mind open.
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Steven Ellison, otherwise known as Flying Lotus, is probably the biggest name in psychedelic electronica right now. His sets combine jazz, trance, house, soul, and trip hop with psychedelic electro jams. I wanted to see him at Levitation Austin last year, but the festival was cancelled due to bad weather and I couldn’t get tickets to his rescheduled set. He recently announced that he’s performing a 3-D show, so that should be amazing. He’s also a close friend of Thundercat, so I think the two of them grooving together is a certainty.
Keep your mind open.
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Thanks to everyone who tuned in for my WSND show last night and the big Mamby on the Beach preview. That went longer than I’d planned, so I didn’t get to the Mondo Moment or Holiday Music segments. They’ll be back either next week or the week after that. We didn’t have a winner in First and Foremost either, so that means I get to keep another cover song in my back pocket for future use.
Australia’s Cut Copywill bring their electro-pop to Chicago’s Mamby on the Beachfestival June 25th. What started as a home recording project in 2001 has bloomed into a four-man band within the last sixteen years. I’m hoping they’ll play a lot of tracks off their upcoming (and as yet unnamed) album. It would be a delight to hear them before a good chunk of the world.
Keep your mind open.
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Todd Terje(real name: Terje Olsen) is a Norwegian house music producer and DJ who is known for his bright, shimmering dance anthems. He’s said in the past that he makes music because he likes to dance, and that’s good enough motivation for me to dig his work. He and his backing band, the Olsens, will be performing at Mamby on the BeachJune 25th in what I’m sure will be a perfect summer music set.
Bass guitar whiz, rapper, singer, and producer Thundercat(Stephen Bruner) is one of the funkiest musicians around right now. His music ranges from funk to soul to psychedelia to prog-rock (and he also plays bass in Suicidal Tendencies). His collaborations with Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus, and Kendrick Lamar have all earned him wide acclaim (and a Grammy). His June 25th set at Mamby on the Beachis sure to be a must-see.
Portland, Oregon’s STRFKRstrives to make danceable pop music, and they’re succeeding. Their stuff combines electro, disco, rock, new wave, and a little funk. They don’t take themselves too seriously, which is a rare delight in the music industry nowadays. They’ll be playing Mamby on the BeachJune 25th, so check out their set if you want to party with a bunch of people who don’t really care about labels, your hang-ups, or mainstream music.
Keep your mind open.
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