Lollapalooza!

Explosions in the Sky At Lolla

Lollapalooza is an amazing music festival located in Grant Park in Chicago, IL. It is known for being one of the largest music festivals hosting over 160,000 people over the course of 3 days! It definitely stands out from the rest of the music festivals and if you can go, you should!

I went last year with my girlfriend(awe!) and her family and had an absolute blast. I saw countless bands I had on my list of bands to see with the most memorable being Coldplay and Manchester Orchestra. It stands out to me for a couple reasons.

1. Lineup. There are handfuls of music festivals all over the map ranging from pop artists to bluegrass. For me Lolla had the best lineup. (2012 Lineup)
2. Cleanliness! This is a big one for me. Grant Park is gorgeous and it was squeaky clean. I've never been to Bonaroo or some of the others but I have heard horror stories about the bathrooms, dust, and smell. Lolla truly does a great job of keeping the park clean for having so many guests.
3. City! Chicago is an amazing city that can also claim the cleanliness award. It was a short walk from our hotel to the park and I can't explain how awesome it was to walk through the city and be able to go back to our hotel rooms to shower. The main stage at Lolla sits right under the skyline of Chicago and the shows here at night are an experience. 

I saw so many bands I had dreamed of seeing last year. I was running around form stage to stage to get a good spot for the next band I wanted to see. To name a few: Coldplay, Manchester Orchestra, My Morning Jacket, Delta Spirit, Local Natives, Noah and the Whale, Foster the People. Seriously though this list is awesome. And it's not even all of them. I swear I'm not being paid to do this post (although that'd be nice!) but you really do need to consider this festival. 

I will be attending again this year but as a music fan you are hopefully planning your annual music festival trip. I wanted to share my experience of Lollapalooza and hopefully convert you! Being in Tennessee many of my friends go to Bonaroo, which is no doubt a sweet festival and I've heard awesome stories. But if you're in the mood to get out of the state, head north to Chicago and I promise you won't regret it!

Here's a recap video of last year to give you a small taste!

Indie Wensdee // Kye Kye

Today I want to share a band called Kye Kye. They are a new band catching lots of attention in the christian music scene. I just saw them this past Sunday with John Mark Mcmillan and they were dope. Super great live and love what they're doing.

They are definitely an electronic band with lots of loops, tracks, and midi keyboards filling the space. The vocals come from the lead female singer Olga Yagolnikov and they are beautiful yet haunting. The band is made up of three Yagolnikov siblings and Olga's husband Tommy. So the chemistry is definitely there and their music reflects that.

You definitely don't wanna miss this band. They have an awesome sound and are creating a big buzz in the scene right now. Read this sweet interview at Relevant to find some more out about them but pick up their latest album Young Love and you won't be disappointed.

AWESOME U2 cover!

My Favorite Entertainer

I have a hard time saying I have one favorite entertainer. To pin it down to just one actor, comedian or artist is seriously impossible. So since I want to get a good grade on this assignment I will choose one of my favorite entertainers who does it all...Donald Glover.

Donald Glover is an actor, writer, comedian and musician. He's truly talented at all of these and it explains why he has become so successful. Being a music lover, I first fell in love with his hip-hop music. I first heard his music when my friend Jay shared his Adele sampled song "Do Ya Like" at poker night. He was giving away his album "Culdesac" and "Fall" E.P. at the time and I downloaded them immediately. I previously had not really been into hip-hop but his music and lyrics are so creative it was hard not to appreciate.


 He raps under the name Childish Gambino and you can hear his music in the video below or on soundcloud. I definitely recommend buying his latest album "Camp" even if rap and hip-hop isn't your thing.  
He was a writer for The Daily Show in 2005 and the NBC series 30 Rock from 2006 to 2009, where he also had an occasional cameo appearance. He began acting with these cameos but his current role is Troy on the NBC comedy series "Community." Glover also performed for a Comedy Central Presents where he did his hilarious stand up. 


Glover is a talented entertainer who hasn't disappointed me yet. I've enjoyed his music, stand-up, writing and acting. I can guarantee you will be seeing his name.

Cool Video!

Pretty sweet little video I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

Indie Wensdee // Of Monsters and Men

It's Wensdee (Wednesday!) which means I shall share another band I'm listening to and see if you enjoy it as well. So let's cut to the chase...

Today I'm sharing a band called Of Monsters and Men. They are an indie folk/pop band from Iceland who are starting to quickly grab everyone's attention. I first heard their song "Little Talks" while looking around on Paste but the song quickly grabbed me and I think I even got it from their free download.

One of the reasons I wanted to share them today is because of their growing popularity and wonderful sound. According to Billboard, their first E.P. Into the Woods is number 9 this week which is somewhat surprising coming from this genre. Their sound is very unique and you'll catch this from the first listen. The contrasting vocals of co-singer/guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and co-singer/guitarist Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson creates a wonderful tone. The backing music is all very full and using catch melodies. 


This band will probably only get more and more popular and I can see them as a post-mumford and sons. What I mean is when mumford caught so much attention it was surprising to me (but made me happy) to see a band of their genre and sound reach the top billboards. Of Monsters and Men comes from a somewhat similar genre while integrating other great instruments and it won't surprise me to hear them all over the radio soon.

The first video below is the official music video for their song "Little Talks" and sorry if you have to suffer through the stupid vevo advertisements (which also means this video will probably be down from my page within a day but oh well). It must've been made by one of their Iceland friends for it is definitely of a unique taste and uses elements of nordic or Iceland cultures. The second one is a radio performance which I enjoyed very much.


So I hope you enjoy these guys. Buy their album from me for only $5 (a steal, and yes this is a promotional plug:]). Keep your eye on this group for I'm sure you will be seeing and hearing more of them in the future!

What about that SOPA/PIPA thing?

If you woke up from your New Year's Eve partying, then you most likely heard about the SOPA/PIPA bills. If you don't know much about it, you should watch this video:






For those of you who didn't want to watch the video or didn't have enough time, in short the SOPA/PIPA bills are proposed legislature that enforces protection and action against illegal pirating and downloading. Wikipedia explains both SOPA and PIPA well.

Both bills received tremendous opposition from all over the internet. Sites like Wikiepedia, Reddit and 7,000 other sites all blacked out for 24 hours on January 18th. At americancensorship.org you were able to write to congress in opposition. And apparently the internet strike worked because the bills did not pass. 


I participated in the write to congress campaign and encouraged my friends and roommates to do so also. I personally felt that the internet is something that shouldn't be controlled by the government. Trying to censor everything over the internet would be impossible and the government would have to take drastic measures to do so. Attacking individuals who have illegally downloaded would mean punishing millions. A free nation means a free internet and unless we want to follow our communist brother in China, these bills should be stopped from being proposed again.


I wanted to bring this subject back up again for a couple reasons. One, it is still important and we shouldn't forget about it just because it has left the front page of the media. Two because with this being a music blog, let's just face it, many music lovers today are downloading their music via torrents, rar files, etc.


My "solution" is to leave it alone. The world's technology is rapidly growing and new media is updated daily. My solution for bands is to live in it and work in it. Accept that many listeners may be illegally downloading their music and work with this. Offer songs and albums for free. Then how would they make any money? Utilize other methods like tours, tickets, merchandise, fund raising or getting your song on television/film.


Now this may not be enough to sustain and if this is the case, then accept the world it is. Do your best to promote your music and encourage people to buy. But getting pissed off that someone may have stolen your music because they wanted to listen to YOU should not be a reason to make it impossible to hear your music. So live with it, accept the environment and make it work!

New Song Premiere // mewithouYou "February 1878"

This is one of my favorite bands and I'm not incorporating them into Indie Wensdee just because they've been around for awhile and I've been listening to them for awhile and hopefully you have been too! They are releasing a new album called Ten Stories on May 15th and I can't express how excited I am!

It is hard to fit mewithoutYou into a specific genre but you will hear big drums and guitars with interesting melodies and spoken word lyrics. MewithoutYou is an amazing band that has a pretty strong following and they've been doing it for quite awhile. Along their journey they seem to have picked up different styles of music along the way and each album can really sort of be set apart. There seems to be a common scenario when discussing mewithoutYou and their fans can kinda fall into a few categories. Many loved A to B: Life (2002), their first full length, which is by far the heaviest. They then put out with Catch for Us the Foxes (2004) and Brother, Sister (2006) which could probably, maybe, sort of be grouped together as they weren't as heavy and more melodic and catchy. Their most recent work came in the form of It's All Crazy! It's All False! It's All a Dream! It's Alright! (2009) a neo-folk sound with Aaron Weiss's (lead vocalist) incorporating a lot more singing.

Many fans have been dreaming of another heavy A to B: Life record while most listeners could probably find it easier to get into It's All Crazy! or the previous two. From this song below, I can definitely hear a combination of both that creates an incredible song. The opening bass riff drives it right from the beginning but as the song progresses you can hear the soft, relaxing breakdown's mewithoutYou does so well.

Either way give it a listen and if you haven't listenend to mewithoutYou before pick up some old album's and start wherever you like. To read more about Ten Stories check out this awesome interview their drummer Rickie Mazzotta did over at Paste.