DOE EYE| First City Festival | 8/23/14 [PHOTOS]

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

THE ACT: DOE EYE | Facebook | Website

INSTAGRAM VIDEOS: CLICK HERE

SOUNDS LIKE:

THOUGHTS:  When deciding which acts I was going to check out, I trolled Facebook to see which artists had similar tastes that I did. I noticed that DOE EYE was a fan of How To Dress Well, so I decided to check out the first 15-20 minutes of her set before heading over to see … How To Dress Well. A little ironic, huh? DOE EYE is Maryam Qudus’ recording project, and her music is a blend of ethereal soundscapes and heavy rhythmic tempos. She was scheduled to play a 35 minutes set, but I could only stay for the several songs. I wish I could have stayed for her complete set to get a full sense of what her music and style were all about, but I guess she can blame it on Tom (aka How To Dress Well).

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

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CocoRosie| First City Festival | 8/23/14 [PHOTOS]

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

THE ACT: Cocorosie | Facebook | Twitter

INSTAGRAM VIDEOS: CLICK HERE

SOUNDS LIKE:

THOUGHTS:  Bianca and Sierra Casady are CocoRosie. Their music has been called “freak folk”, “folk-tronic” and “hip-hopera” … but whatever you want to call it, you can’t deny that it’s sublime. Currently based in Paris, France, I believe that this performance at First City Festival was one of the first concerts that they have performed in the United States since November of 2013, and even as the first act to hit the Main Stage of the festival, they drew a sizable crowd for their 2:30 set times. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one interested in seeing them perform their intriguing style of music. I left their performance in awe of their unique sound, and tried to sum it in my head. A mix of Bjork, Fiona Apple, Grimes … I don’t know how to describe it. It was CocoRosie.

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

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Miniature Tigers | First City Festival | 8/23/14 [PHOTOS]

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

THE ACT: Miniature Tigers | Facebook | Twitter | Website

INSTAGRAM VIDEOS: CLICK HERE

SOUNDS LIKE:

THOUGHTS:  I only had a couple songs to listen/watch this band play because I had to show up to the press tent 15 minutes before main stage acts took the stage to be led into the photo pit, but I was immediately drawn to Miniature Tigers bassist. In fact, over half of my photos from what I caught of their set were of the bassist. LOL. My brief encounter with their music left an upbeat, fun impression.

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

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Speedy Ortiz | First City Festival | 8/23/14 [PHOTOS]

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

THE ACT: Speedy Ortiz | Facebook | Twitter

INSTAGRAM VIDEOS: CLICK HERE

SOUNDS LIKE:

THOUGHTS:  Really, really dig this band. I grew up in the 90’s, and their sound took me back to my days listening to the Pixies and Pavement. In fact, when I heard Sadie Dupuis sing for the first time, I thought of Kim Deal singing “Gigantic”. This band has been getting a lot good press recently (part of the reason why I wanted to check them out), and it really is well deserved.  Hopefully, they’ll come back to California for some more gigs sooner rather than later.

 

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

 

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Strangers You Know | First City Festival | 8/23/14 [PHOTOS]

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

THE ACT: Strangers You Know | Facebook | Twitter | Website

INSTAGRAM VIDEOS: CLICK HERE

SOUNDS LIKE:

THOUGHTS:  The first band I got to catch was a young group of fellas called Strangers You Know. For the earliest set in the day, I was quite surprised that they had pulled a decent sized crowd (which consisted of mostly young girls). With solid pop-laced, indie-rock melodies and a confident swagger that impressed me and good looks (which I’m assuming impressed their young female crowd), I was glad that I got to the festival grounds early to catch some music that I was unfamiliar with. If these guys have been writing their music, they’re off to a good start. I’m interested to hear more from them.

To Check Out Other Acts that I Caught At First City Festival, CLICK HERE.

 

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Lee “Scratch” Perry | Twilight Concert Series | Santa Monica Pier | 8/28/14 [PHOTOS]

CLICK HERE to check out other acts performing a Twilight Concert at the Santa Monica Pier!

Lee “Scratch” Perry. The Upsetter. A Grammy award winning, seminal Jamaican reggae producer whose innovative production techniques redefined reggae music as we know it. And he graced the stage with the Subatomic Sound System at the Santa Monica Pier for the Twilight Concert Series. Wow.

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At 78 years old, I was impressed with how spry and energetic the Upsetter was. Performing some classic reggae tunes (i.e. “Sun Is Shining”) and doing his best to jump around the stage (literally), he got the crowd feeling irie. If the weed in the air was any indication, the crowd was definitely plenty irie. lol.

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I do have to admit, I was a little surprised with some of what he was singing/speaking towards the end of the set. He spent several minutes singing about how much he “loves white pussy”. I wasn’t sure where it came from, but he was preaching it to the crowd. He also mentioned how much he loved the white man for “paying his bills.” I saw a few confused faces in the crowd.

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Perhaps, his biggest “rant” came at the very end where repeatedly insisted that “hip-hop was dead, reggae is live.” Perhaps, making reggae loving hip-hop heads in the crowd a bit uncomfortable. Well, they don’t call him The Upsetter for nothing.

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I couldn’t find a setlist online, but you can CLICK HERE to check out a collection of Instagram Videos of Lee “Scratch” Perry and Subatomic Sound System performing.

 

CLICK HERE to check out other acts performing a Twilight Concert at the Santa Monica Pier!

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Mexico68 | Twilight Concert Series | Santa Monica Pier | 8/28/14 [PHOTOS]

CLICK HERE to check out other acts performing a Twilight Concert at the Santa Monica Pier!

With 13 members in its collective, Mexico68 is an afrobeat band that does it right. Their tight-knit sound, and superb energy, really lifted the audience’s spirit, and had many in the crowd dancing to their sounds. Personally, I’m a huge fan a large, and loud, horn sections. They had 7 horns playing that evening, and I absolutely loved it.

Their brand of afrobeat, heavily influenced with Chicano funk, really got my music juices flowing. I would definitely go out of my way to see them perform if I’m craving that kind of music. You should too.

I couldn’t find a setlist online, but you can CLICK HERE to check out a collection of Instagram Videos of them performing.

 

 

CLICK HERE to check out other acts performing a Twilight Concert at the Santa Monica Pier!

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Twilight Concert Series | Santa Monica Pier

Free Concert Alert | OK Go and Allah-Las at the Santa Monica Pier | 9/4/14 [Preview]

CLICK HERE to check out the other acts I plan on checking out this Summer at the Twilight Concert Series at the Santa Monica Pier!

If you haven’t been at the Santa Monica Pier this summer to enjoy some of the free music they are offering with the Twilight Concert Series, you should try making it out this Thursday to catch Allah-Las and OK Go rock the beach.

 

OK Go, best known for their amazing music videos, will give the audience a chance to listen to music from the forthcoming album, “Hungry Ghosts”, which is to be released October 14th, 2014. I’ve got to give it to this band. With record labels letting go of artist’s with a loyal following (and not knowing how to capitalize on a band’s popularity with compromising the product in some way), OK Go’s upcoming release is an independent effort, with the album being distributed through the direct-to-fan platform PledgeMusic.

 

Check out the video below of the first single from the album, and make sure you head out to the pier to catch them perform live!

Follow OK Go on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.

 

Opening for OK Go is Allah-Las, an L.A. based garage band that I recently caught at Echo Park Rising.  Though their style of music is quite different from OK Go’s sound, they should be appetizer for the audience at the pier. With their loyal fan base, I’d highly recommend getting to the pier early to ensure that you make it in before the venue reaches capacity.

Follow Allah-Las on Facebook by CLICKING HERE.

 

To see the full list of acts performing at the Santa Monica Pier as part of the 20th Annual Twilight Concert series, CLICK HERE.

 

CLICK HERE to check out the other acts I plan on checking out this Summer at the Twilight Concert Series at the Santa Monica Pier!

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My Love Letter To First City Festival

Dear First City Festival,

I think I love you. Please don’t change.

I know we haven’t known each other very long. In fact … I only met you last week … but that one glorious weekend was all it took to make me want to get to know you better. Continue reading →

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First City Festival | August 23 & 24, 2014 | Homepage

This is the “Homepage” for the links to all of the blog entries posted about the acts I was able to catch at First City Festival, August 23 and 24, 2014. Below are links to Instagram video posts, photos and some brief thoughts about each band that I was able to enjoy in beautiful Monterey.

To read my “Love Letter” to First City Festival CLICK HERE.

Saturday, August 23th

Sunday, August 24th

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