Concert Review: Kid Koala, November 24, U Street Music Hall

Posted on by halley in Concerts | Leave a comment

There are people who headline vaudeville acts. There are people who hang out with puppeteers. There are people who can pull off bear suits. There are talented mash-up artists. Rarely are all these attributes found in one individual. Enter Kid Koala.

The Canadian-based artist (who went to school in the Washington, DC-suburbs!) put on a great show at U Street Music Hall on 11/24 despite the potential difficulties of a Thanksgiving weekend and an early set time (8:30! Not gonna lie, as a devoted in-bed-by-midnighter I was not displeased). Kid Koala’s tracks are amaaaaazing, combining ALL types of music and unexpected but artistic sounds ranging from old commercials to cartoon jingles. His set-up is also really neat. He has two monitors behind his booth that
allows the audience to see a close-up of his hands as he mixes/mashes/scratches (obviously I’m not an expert on the lingo here) his records.

The actual spectacle Kid Koala puts on is also something to write home about. Not only is he a charismatic guy, giving shout-outs to the crowd, his daughter, and his sponsors as well as explaining a bit about each track he plays and the reason why he sports and will sport a koala suit for 100 consecutive shows (he lost a bet), but he also makes sure his audience remains entertained. For this particular vaudeville-themed show, he had three dancers parading about with an impressive arrange of props, including but not limited to feathers, man-sized USA maps, paper planes (thrown to the audience), and a gramophone.

Other concert-time activities included a limbo competition and a kazoo-off. As if that wasn’t enough, Kid Koala also offered his fans the chance to enter a contest to win a personal pizza party, DJ’ed by Kid Koala himself, for 16 friends – and he specified there would be no Dominoes-ordering. Instead [and I quote as accurately as possible] “we’ll set you up with pizza that has truffle oil and such.” Obviously this man knows what’s up in terms of good entertainment, company, music, and food. He’s definitely a man worth seeing.

Song of the Day: Jukebox the Ghost – Don’t Let Me Fall Behind

Posted on by halley in Song of the Day | Leave a comment

If Jukebox the Ghost is good at one thing (besides constantly touring, endearing themselves to audiences everywhere, and staying under 300 collective pounds) it’s capturing millenials’ angst in upbeat three-to-four minutes songs. Their new single, “Don’t Let Me fall Behind,” is just another example of that skill.

The trio puts together their classic keyboard, guitar and drums combination to create a beautiful song that articulates everything us 25-35 year old worry about: love, loss, the fear of missing out (FOMO), and the quest for that perfect someone. Every time this band puts out a song I am newly convinced they are singing especially to me. I’m sure the majority of their growing base of fans has the same conviction, which makes me confident this up-and-coming band is actually far from falling behind.

Concert Review: JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, November 21, The Metro

Posted on by Celeste in Concerts | Leave a comment

The three rules to looking good are:

1) Everybody looks better in a suit.

2) Nobody looks stupid when they’re having fun.

3) Everybody looks glamorous when they’re surrounded by attractive people.

So in other words, JC Brooks is brootiful.

I first made the acquaintance of JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound this summer when they rocked the stage at Lolla at 11am and showed up all the headliners. When I saw they were headlining their own show at the Metro on American Thanksgiving eve, I knew I had to go in for a second helping – even if they were playing in the indie oasis of brosville that is The Metro Theater.

JCBUS is a retro, soul punk outfit consisting of a keyboardist, a bongo player, a guitarist, a bassist and of course the main man himself – JC Brooks. Brooks not only has sweet dance moves and swagger, he also brings back the glamour and class of a 1950’s crooner. A crooner who apparently appeals to the really tall 20 something white male crowd. There were at least three 6 foot guys in front me who were waving wildly trying to get Brooks’ attention throughout the concert – I can’t say I disagree with their taste in man crush, but I was somewhat surprised by it.

These tall white men were also getting down like nobody’s business. Wilco cover ‘I am trying to break your heart’, as well as ‘Sister Ray Charles’ and ‘Want More’ were particular crowd favorites. Brooks belted out the songs like nobody’s business and also shimmied, strutted, swayed and shook his way throughout an hour long set. The man can spin elegance, sophistication, attitude and fun out of thin air – and even though we all knew the second we exited the doors of The Metro we would come upon the beer soaked frat party that is Wrigleyville after midnight, it was worth it to see Brooks create his magic onstage.

Sorta classic Song of the Day: Menswear – Daydreamer

Posted on by Ricky in Song of the Day | Leave a comment

Sorta funny music story this week as former Britpop band Menswear guitarist Chris Gentry tweeted that their debut record, Nuisance finally went platinum, prompting all kinds of hilarity as documented in this exclaim article. Menswear were always a band that was style over substance and ultimately one of the first bands which music rags NME and Select pushed onto unsuspecting crowds with lofty headlines and unsubstantiated claims. Their inevitable failure was to no surprise (think Britpop Lana Del Rey circa early 90s) but still, this is a pretty funny story.

For some transparency, I’ll also post the conversation we had that led to this article
Vik: haha http://exclaim.ca/News/former_menswear_member_fools_old_bandmates_with_platinum_record_prank?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewsExclaimca+%28%21+Exclaim.ca+-+News+%29
Ricky: yeah they were pretty awful
Ricky: daydreamer is good for about five listens
Vik: i tried giving them a shot but being brave was pretty much the only track i liked of theirs
Ricky: DaaaaaaaaayDreeeeeeeeamer!
Ricky: shit i gotta queue it up now
Ricky: gawd the vocals for this
Ricky: the guitar riff is straight out of elastica’s debut record though
Vik: haha totally
Ricky: im going to post this as song of the day since its pretty funny story