Interview: Maps & Atlases

Early last month, the wonderful Maps & Atlases graced the stage at Stuart's Opera House as the headliner for the second annual Cabin Fever Festival. Launching straight into the driving riffs of "Living Decorations," the group quickly struck the balance between their folk-rock tendencies and math-rock precision, as showcased on their latest release Perch Patchwork. Tracks like "The Charm" and "Israeli Caves" bristled with energy and saturated the room with percussive intensity. By the time the band reached the rousing finale of "Solid Ground," there was still a palpable enthusiasm filling the room that was not wasted on the exiting performers. Taking to the pit in front of the stage, the group cobbled together some impromptu acoustic versions of a few older tracks from their catalog as the remaining crowd huddled around. It was an appropriately intimate ending to an evening that had already set an exceedingly receptive tone.

Earlier that day, I had the chance to sit down with lead vocalist Dave Davison and guitarist Erin Elders and talk about the recording process for their most recent record, the band's affinity for Columbus, OH and where to get the best veggie hot dogs.

Flaming Lips & Neko Case Announced as Nelsonville Music Festival Headliners

I've been sitting on this news for awhile now—it's taken all the willpower I possess to not blurt this out to someone. But last night we made it official: The Flaming Lips and Neko Case are going to be headlining this year's edition of the Nelsonville Music Festival from May 13-15. Country music legend George Jones will also be playing on Friday night. It's arguably the most exciting set of headliners this festival has ever played host to.

Over 30 more bands will be added to the line-up over the course of the coming months—a mix of local and national acts which will convene in one of the best festival settings I've ever experienced. For an idea of just how awesome this event is, read my review of last year's festival. Tickets go on sale this Monday, at an extremely reasonable price considering the acts announced thus far.

Bottom line, even if you're not from around the area, this may be worth a trip to little old Nelsonville, OH. I'll be posting more on line-up confirmations as that news rolls in.

Full disclosure—I'm currently interning for festival organizers Stuart's Opera House

Interview: Pomegranates

A few weeks back, I again crossed paths with the Cincinnati-based pop rock band Pomegranates as they played the second annual Cabin Fever Festival at Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio. The group's reverb-drenched guitars sounded appropriately gigantic filling the cavernous venue, enveloping the crowd in the warm embrace of their latest record's title track, "One of Us." It was immediately apparent that the band has only become more polished in the short time since I saw them at this past year's CMJ festival, turning the dreamy "Create Yr Own Reality" into a seemingly effortless showcase of the each member's talents. Shifting from the pronounced rhythms of "50's" to the tropical shoegaze of "Beachcomber," I found myself basking in the atmosphere of each variation of the quartet's unique sound. The overwhelming jubilance of their closing song "Everybody Come Outside" was enough to win over even the staunchest curmudgeon—not that I noticed any.

Prior to taking the stage, lead singer Joey Cook, drummer Jacob Merritt and guitarist Daniel Lyons were kind enough to sit down with me to talk about their latest record, the songwriting practices of Huey Lewis and the News, as well as their purported celestial inspirations.

A Milestone & Fall Concerts Galore!

The article your about to read marks my hundredth post here at Tapes on the Floor, a feat that took me just a little over three years to achieve. This entire blog has grown in fits and spurts, taking long hiatuses and then resurfacing without warning. To me, it's a tangible document of the part that music, film, etc. has played in my life over the past three years. I hope you, the reader, has been able to take away something from it as well. Now that we've marked the occasion, let's get to the good stuff...

The past few weeks have come with a deluge of concert announcements in the Central Ohio area that I'm very excited about. First and foremost was the not entirely unexpected revelation that Wilco would be making another stop at the Wexner Center in Columbus, playing the Mershon Auditorium on October 12 as part of their fall tour. The first time I ever saw Wilco was at the Mershon back in 2005 when the group stopped through in support of a ghost is born, so the venue itself holds a special significance to me. Needless to say, I'm very excited to hear some songs from the new album in a live setting. I'm also curious to see who they bring along as their opening act, Wilco has a knack for picking bands that make the ticket price seem like a bargain. As with all things Wilco, you'll certainly be hearing more about this one from me as the day of the show approaches!

Next up was the totally unexpected announcement that Yo La Tengo would be making a stop at Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville, OH on September 24. For the uninformed, Nelsonville is just a 5 minute drive away from Athens where I currently attend school. Stuart's is, in fact, a beautiful old opera house that played host to the free Arcade Fire concerts I attended last year. Still, it's a little bit unbelievable that a band as legendary as Yo La Tengo will be coming within just a few miles of my adopted hometown to play a show. I really loved their performance at Pitchfork Fest last month, and I've really been digging what I've been hearing from their new record Popular Songs, so it stands to reason that I'm very psyched about this show. Should be an excellent night at the opera (house)...

While were on the subject of bands I've recently seen, Built to Spill, another of my Pitchfork Fest favorites, will be playing a show at the Newport on October 1. This sounds like the perfect kickoff to a weekend in Columbus, which is playing host to Mid-Ohio-Con on October 3 and 4. The group will hopefully be playing some tracks from their forthcoming record There Is No Enemy, due in stores sometime this October via Warner Bros.

Finally, rounding out my planned concert itinerary for this fall is an appearance by Dan Auerbach on November 5th at the Newport. Auerbach will be kicking off the next leg of his tour in support of his superb solo record Keep It Hid which was released earlier this year. This is a record that has really grown on me over the past few months, so I'm very excited to hear most of these tracks live. Joining Auerbach will be a pretty solid bill of supporting acts, including Jessica Lee Mayfield, who's latest album Auerbach produced, and Justin Townes Earl.

Don't think there's been this many groups I want to see coming through Columbus/Athens in quite some time. Central Ohio must be building a good reputation for live music, and rightfully so. I'll see some of you at the shows!

Live Review: Arcade Fire @ Stuart's Opera House

What can I say? Last night was an incredibly amazing and special night that I will not soon forget. Arcade Fire came to Nelsonville to garner support for a candidate who they believe in, and I think they more than accomplished that. Barack Obama is very lucky to have the support of a band like this, a band that will load a van and drive 14 hours to play two shows in a small middle-of-nowhere town in southeastern Ohio. Just an excellent night, where do I begin?

Arcade Fire's touring horn player Colin Stetson opened both shows with 15 minutes of improv solo saxophone. The guy is incredibly talented, he knows his instruments very well and can produce sounds that I don't think I've ever heard out of a saxophone. He's also a circular breather, which just blows my mind. His set was short, but the amount of energy put into it, and the fact that he did it twice in one night made it all the more impressive.

The six-person line up of Arcade Fire (including Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Will Butler, Jeremy Gara, Sarah Neufeld and Colin Stetson) took the stage to an all-out roar of applause. The band promptly launched into "Intervention", a song that Win admitted was written during the 2004 elections, and was all the more depressing because of it. During this first show, the band was loose, still finding their voices after weeks without playing together. Next up was "Keep the Car Running", followed by a cover of David Bowie's "Heroes", a song that Win said he asked Bowie if he could play, to which he replied "Fuck yes!". The band's next cover was the Sam Cooke song "A Change is Gonna Come", admittedly a little weird coming out of the mouth of a well-off white guy, but in the context of the upcoming elections, a very poignant message nonetheless. The next three songs were the highlight reel for Funeral; "Rebellion (Lies)", "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" and the most heartfelt rendition of "Wake Up" I've ever born witness to. The band capped off their first set with John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth", a song Pearl Jam commandeered to a similar effect during the 2000 elections. I won't go on at great length about the second set, suffice to say it was not nearly as well attended as the first, which is a shame because the band was much tighter. They played all the same covers as before, adding in "(Antichrist Television Blues)" in place of the two Neon Bible songs played in the first set. The smaller crowd ate it up, and the band ended on a high note with a significantly improved version of their Sam Cooke cover. I think Win and company accomplished their goal here, and I thank them for coming here to do it.

Keep the Campaign Running

I was going to post about this earlier this week, but at that point it seemed like nothing more than a rumor and I wasn't about to be the guy to add fuel to the flames. However, with ticket in hand, I can now confirm (along with numerous other sources, who picked up the story last night via press release) that the Arcade Fire will be playing a show in support of Barack Obama's presidential bid tomorrow night at Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville, Ohio. To be perfectly clear; this won't be the entire touring band, I'm not even totally certain which members are making the trip. Win Butler, Regine Chassagne and Jeremy Gara will be there for sure though, it wouldn't be an Arcade Fire show without them. The band will also be playing a show Monday night at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. The press release states that admission to these shows will be first come, first served, but the local Obama campaign crew here in Athens was given 250 VIP tickets to distribute, so I expect Cleveland's event will also be partially ticketed. I'm still really taken aback by the thought of Arcade Fire coming to my tiny college town to play a free show. You'd think they would have gone to Columbus, but I guess Athens holds some clout in the upcoming primaries. Rest assured, I will have a full review of the show, with pictures, (if I can get a camera in) on Sunday night.