Tag: unknown mortal orchestra

Get Off Your Phone and Into the Crowd: Unknown Mortal Orchestra at The Wiltern

Travis Beck May 28, 2018

There are times in my life when I don’t listen to new music. Those are often dark times where I do nothing but binge all my old favorite artists – which span about 50 years – from jazz legends to the Beatles to “Crash Into Me” by Dave Matthews Band. The ladder often facilitates sobbing in my car similar to a scene in the Oscar-winning film Lady Bird. related content: Super Tight Rides Into The Sunset At Final Show But new music. New music is magical. New music captures the vibe of the times – if done correctly. My favorite artists have always been those who evolve with the changing cultural landscape. Artists like Beck, Prince and David Bowie. Every time I “discover” a new artist, I learn they’ve existed for years. This makes me feel one of two ways: either taken aback – like I’ve been living under a rock, or excited, like you just met your new best friend. Even though they tour around the globe, Unknown Mortal Orchestra is still, well, unknown to most music fans out there. At least in my experience. But they shouldn’t be, because they rock the fuck out and have been putting

Desert Daze 2017 Headline Here: Some Variation of Rock’s NOT Dead

Jonathan Reyes October 25, 2017

When you get a ticket to Desert Daze, you know what you paid for, such as Iggy Pop’s last performance of the year and the holy sounds of Spiritualized. But there are things included in the price that you probably didn’t expect or ask for. Things like a Defense Against The Dark Arts class or learning there’s more than one form of sound healing. related content: Iggy Pop Performance Archives for 2017 related content: Punk Rock Bowling 2017: You Can’t Be What You Were… Desert Daze is a nondenominational psychedelic gathering for people who want to expand their minds but is welcoming to people who just want to get high and bang their heads to Sleep. It’s like burning man without the orgy tent. Or was it? I never went to the mystic bazaar which might have been code for orgy tent. I was too busy trying to stay drunk in the desert which is harder than it sounds but went down with a little help from the buds with the suds from Spaceland (shout out to Rooster)- It all worked out. related content: Desert Daze 2016: Quantifying The Physics Of A Good Time The anti-festival is here. DD has all the

Day For Night Fest: Futurists Of Audio & Visual Converge In Houston

Lindsay Krause December 26, 2016

Shadowy figures traverse dimly lit concrete walkways, gliding past “High Voltage” warning signs that adorn massive steel boxes hanging from the ceiling. A chain link-fence houses what appears to be some sort of parasitic mass of hair, the fibers hovering above curious crowds of observers like a space creature. A neo-futuristic looking couple decked out in silver metallic platforms, all black skintight clothing and bondage style leather harnesses hold hands as they navigate the industrial landscape and make their way toward the Blue stage. Had I taken the red pill and woken up in the goth haunt Club Hel from the film The Matrix? It certainly felt that way, but I was in fact partying inside Houston’s premier winter music and arts festival, Day for Night. Taking residence in a vacant post office building in the heart of downtown the second edition of the gathering boasted an exclusive Bjork digital exhibit, a highly-anticipated headlining appearance from Aphex Twin (his first set in the U.S. since Coachella 2008), 3 outdoor stages and a multitude of thought provoking light installations. The event is the product of the minds that organize Houston’s Free Press Summer Fest, yet Day for Night offers an experience that

Preview: “Multi Love” from Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Danny Baraz February 11, 2015

It seems like every two years, like clockwork, we are blessed with a new Unknown Mortal Orchestra release. Music snobs insist on a certain type of consistency without predictability from their favorite artists. I received an advanced copy of the title track from Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s forthcoming release last week but I never like to give my opinion on art in haste and I’m glad I waited. Art has a funny way of morphing your perception of it from one view or listen to the next. My initial thoughts on “Multi Love”, the title track from Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record was that it’s quite the shift from the filthy beauty of their previous works. It’s amazing how different recording methods can completely change the vibe of an artist. On “Multi-Love”, it sounds like there has been a pivot from analog recording to digital. It threw me off the first few times I listened to it but not necessarily in a bad way. It sounds so clean that it almost felt like a different band altogether but at the same time, Ruban Nielson’s vocals are unmistakeable and glorious. There is a guitar lick that comes in at the 1:47 mark of