xantha.org

This summer, we’ve made a bit of a concerted (har har) effort to see more live music. We’ve seen Tool, Rush, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Vampire Weekend. Last Wednesday we saw Arcade Fire and Calexico at Key Arena.

floor wristband

I’m the Arcade Fire fan. I was really looking forward to this show, especially after many people called it the best show of the summer. At the same time, I wasn’t sure how they were going to translate live thanks to the number of instruments and band members.

This review of the show over at the P-I says it well:

Watching the band between songs was like watching a hockey line change with instruments

The audience was diverse — all ages, all styles — and despite Win declaring that we were “awful polite for the city that brought us grunge,” everyone was very much into the show. Dancing, singing, clapping, humming along.

Then again, when you have a talented bunch of people on stage playing interesting and catchy music and obviously having a great time doing it, it’s easy to have a great time.

It was indeed, quite the good live show. Thanks Arcade Fire!

Every time I spy this birdhouse in our yard, I start singing.

I go through music phases. I wax, I wane. I often listen to the same album on repeat over the course of a week or month.

My last.fm account details this pretty clearly when you check out my weekly listening:

A couple of weeks ago I asked N to put some Disturbed and Linkin Park on a cd because I needed some upbeat coding music. He couldn’t bear to leave any empty space on the cd, so he added some things he thought I’d like — enter Santogold.

Last week, I listened to the Santogold album a LOT. The only track I was familiar with prior was “L.E.S. Artistes.” I dig the album as a whole — some songs remind me of M.I.A., some songs remind me of Liz Phair, others remind me of Siouxsie Sioux (that’s a bit of a strange mix).

Another musical discovery last week via fellow GT fan Scotty Crowe over at the John Mayer blog was Viva La Hova, a [free!] mixtape mashup of Coldplay and Jay-Z. It’s really good! Download it, take a listen. Yell at me later if you hate it.