The show was extremely lively, filled with build-ups and guitar solos throughout, as well as a few of the more quiet moments in the show. Eric Johnson had a great live voice, as well as the background vocals of Sam Wagster whom plays the slide and lead guitar, and Ron Lewis who backs up the band on keys. The harmonies throughout the show and guitar riffs brought up some hints of Band of Horses, so after the show I asked the group what they thought it. “We have been told in the past that we sound like Band of Horses, and are also friends with them.” So it is no coincidence that the group has similar sounds, also due to the fact that both bands influences come from older country rock singers such as Neil Young.

Another noticeable point of the show was the grooving that took place behind the scenes with drummer Graeme Gibson and bassist Chris Sherman. The drumming was impeccable, with great fills and a nice blend with the music, and the same goes to say with the bass. It was obvious that the band had been playing together for years, since 1999, because they had every song and transition down to the second.

Fruit Bats also seemed to be a curious name, so I asked Eric Johnson after the show how the name originated, “I made it up as a joke a long time ago to put it on a 4 track sample, and the name just stuck, so we have kept it ever since.” The band just recently released a studio album titled The Ruminant Band and if it is half as good as the songs from it which were played live, then I would highly recommend going out and grabbing a copy. This show was my first at the square room, and definitely will not be my last, and hopefully we will be seeing the The Fruit Bats around here again soon.

THE DISCO BISCUITS ANNOUNCE SECOND ROUND OF PERFORMERS FOR CAMP BISCO VIII
3-DAY MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL
IN MARIAVILLE, NEW YORK JULY 16-18 2009

Asher Roth, Kid Cudi, Bonobo Live, Tractorbeam vs. The Perfume, Brothers Past, Pnuma Trio, Dr. Fameus vs. DJ Drizno, BLVD and Two Fresh added to performers that include The Disco Biscuits – All 3 Nights, Nas & Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley, STS9, James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, DFA Disco Tent, Chromeo, Dr. Dog, K’Naan and More!

Atlanta, Georgia (May 19, 2009) – The Disco Biscuits have confirmed the second round of performers slated for Camp Bisco VIII, the eighth annual three-day music and arts festival in Mariaville, New York this July 16-18, 2009. The 50 performer lineup at the multi-stage camping festival includes: The Disco Biscuits – All 3 Nights; Nas & Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley; Asher Roth; STS9 (2 nights); Kid Cudi; Tractorbeam vs. The Perfume; DFA Disco Tent; Twisted Records All Star Tent; Chromeo; Bonobo Live; Dr. Dog; K’Naan; Younger Brother; Special Disco Version James Murphy & Pat Mahoney of LCD Soundsystem; Brothers Past; Pnuma Trio; Flying Lotus; Pretty Lights; Shpongle; EOTO; Holy Ghost; Orchard Lounge; John Brown’s Body; Telepath; Boombox; Martyn, BioDiesel with KJ Sawka; AC Slater; Phantogram; MO2; DJ Haitian; Fort Knox Five; Dr. Fameus vs. DJ Drizno; Kill the Noise; Prometheus; Ott; Starkey; Bluetech; Indobox; BLVD; Two Fresh; Mixed Bag’s Superjam; The Chavy Boys of London; Mike La Sage and the Stumbling Troubadours; Chronicles of the Landsquid; Roots of Creation; Joe Nice; Tuphace; Otherwise; Synewave; and Dirty Paris.

Camp Bisco VIII will once again be held at the picturesque Indian Lookout Country Club in Mariaville, New York. The venue will be set-up with two performance stages and a third late night dance tent. The Indian Lookout Country Club is located approximately 20 minutes travel time from Albany, New York, and sits on 200 acres of rolling, flat grass fields. The grounds come equipped with full bathrooms; which include flush toilets and showers, as well as 24/7 bathroom attendants. Festival goers will have access to a full bar on site and a general store, which sells almost every necessity for a comfortable and care free experience.

Tickets are available online at www.campbisco.net and 1-800-594-TIXX, as well as at all FYE stores in New England and select outlets in New York state. VIP packages will be made available for an additional $250 per 3 day ticket purchase. Travel packages which include; a ticket to the event, 3 night hotel stay and unlimited shuttle service to and from Camp Bisco will be made available. 15 cents of every ticket sold will be donated to Trees For The Future, an organization that has been the steward of planting trees throughout the world since the early 1970s in an effort to remedy the effects of illegal logging and unsustainable land management systems on the world’s developing communities. 50 cents of every ticket sold will be donated to Headcount Cents for Sense, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization devoted to voter registration and participation in democracy. BE-Green ticket upgrades will also be sold for an additional $2.50. Funds raised by the BE-Green upgrades will be used to offset carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy sources.

Rainwater Cassette Exchange acts more as a continuation of ‘Microcastle/Weird Era Cont.’ as oppossed to a prequel to a new album. Microcastle found Deerhunter engaging a more pop/folk friendly sound that is still audible on RCE to the point that any of these songs would feel at home on that album.

The most obvious reason for this release is the inclusion of ‘Disappearing Ink’. The track moves through a familiar chord progression but Deerhunter does it so well that its not worth comparing it to what I’ve heard it on before. Famous last words lays Deerhunters signature sounds over soprano ooos and ahhhs, never leaving a space unfulfilled. Closing the short set of songs is ‘Circulation’, the second candidate for best song in this collection of best songs.

Most of the talk about Deerhunter takes place on message boards and blogs and Deerhunter obviously knows this. An E.P. release isn’t going to make them millionaires but it will keep the blogosphere buzzing and keep the fans held over until the next proper Deerhunter release.

There was an noticeable difference in the audio of Truly Grimey’s set. Pushing the volume and bass up a notch brought the party to a new level that would set the bar for the rest of the night, so by the time Karius came to the stage, the party was in full effect. The End was packed to the max throughout Karius’ high intensity set, giving him ample people to feed off of before regurgitating the energy back in audio form. Two Fresh came to the stage ready to do what they do best for their home city. Along with the twin brothers and Colby, DJ Kids Meal was brought in to perform scratches, adding another facet to the already talented lineup. Playing until after 3 in the morning Two Fresh showed the crowd why their quickly becoming known as the kings of Cashville.

Justin Kase threw down the early set, beginning at 5:45. Justin Kase provided what would be background noise for the few people that were in attendance at that point. From the sound of his set, Justin would have been just at home playing later in evening but this time fell curse to the too early set.

Playing to the early crowd Dab and Jam mixed dance versions of ‘Ridin Dirty’ with The Game’s ‘One Blood’. Perched atop a roland setup one half of Dab and Jam kept to spinning, as the other would acted as hypeman, pumping the crowd, even getting off the stage to dance with concert goers. Switching Dj’s mid set multiple times Dab and jam kept the performance fresh, creating the feeling of just getting the party started, over and over again. Dab and Jam really shined when both DJ’s took to spinning together, each tweaking knobs, never stopping the show. Melee displayed the feeling of the crowd best, showing his approval by bouncing along with the music at the back of the stage.

Melee started his set as the sun went down, foregoing the light show, instead moving the crowd through audio inspiration. Manning the same equipment as Dab and Jam, Melee sequenced a sped up performance, contrasting the summer party atmosphere of Dab and Jam’s set. Melee mixed up his set throwing an arsenal of effects on ‘Hey Mickey’ and other tracks.

Adorned in a pink scarf and matching hat Karius Vega spun an eclectic IDM set, pushing the limits of the Subs at the front of the stage . Stationed behind a Macbook, Vega appealed to the crowd, dancing and seeming to be as much a part of the party as the concert goers. As Karius‘ set went on, the crowd began to accumulate, stopping by to take a look on their way into the venue, but never quite making it inside after Karius captured their attention. Coming to a close, Karius broke the song down to kicks and claps, clapping his hands above his head as the crowd joined in.

This is Art brought their live jam to the ever growing crowd, causing most people to look at each other with the ‘This is awesome’ face. The Nashville group was composed of the usual bassist, flute player, and drummer, but added a keyboard player and percussionist to the lineup, giving their live performance an unexpected bang.

“Nashville, What’s Up?” asked one of the twin brothers that make up Nashville group Two Fresh, causing the crowd to respond with united “Woooo!”. Two Fresh kept the crowd in motion banging spaced out versions of cuts from Rich Boy and Three Six Mafia. Nashville came out in full force to suppport it’s home town group, as Two Fresh recreated the house party scene that they cut their teeth on, for the Limelight crowd. Bringing another party to full throttle, Two Fresh proved to be deserving of their recent acclaim.

Serving as the appetizer to Bowie’s main dish, Arock pumped the atmosphere to a level it would remain for the rest of the evening. Arock’s bassist displayed another version of multi-instrumentalism, utilizing a bass guitar and laptop to rock the crowd, as Bowie prepped speakers and cords at the back of the stage throughout the performance.

Bowie

Bowie came to the stage ready to open the crowd up as opposed to close down the outside portion of the event. Manning the stage solo, Bowie puppeteered the crowd, keeping them bouncing till after 1 in the morning. Through Hallucinogen’s set had already started most of the outside concert goers chose to stay rooted to concrete, opting to finish Bowie‘s set over catching the first few minutes of Shpongle.

Stay Tuned for Pics from the Inside Portion of Cosmic Clearance!

If you’d like to learn more about music, check out my friends Guitar Blog.

Check below for a video of their performance and if you have a chance make sure you catch them live. Dates for their tour can be found on the Concert Calendar on Buzzafied’s main page.

.

If you’re interested in learning to how to play an instrument check this Piano Lessons site for a couple of tutorials.

Mother Father tore into their set with an intensity that brought the crowd in from their cigarette breaks. Mother Father pulled out all the stops, playing for the less than 200 people crowd as if they were the headliner of a 70000 person festival. The time and effort paid to craft the songs could be felt throughout the set. Each song came across as its own, showing that Mother Father showed attention to not duplicating themselves over and over again. Singer Dave Gahan soloed into the final song backed by reverberating chords. At this point Mother Fathercould’ve taken the crowd in any direction, but ended the set with a bang, which was hard to believe considering the amazing set they’d just run through.

Coming to the stage quietly Zaza floated into their set, blending each song into the next in a way that was reminiscent of the first half of Deerhunter’s Cryptograms album. Zaza‘s flowing set seemed to hypnotize the crowd. Kurt’s minimal drum set provided a great trail for bassist Jenny to give the band the low end of their down tempo groove. The Ends nominal light show was toned down even more for Zaza‘s set. With only two lights Zaza chose not to put on a visual spectacle instead opting to let the music speak for itself.

Sounding as crisp as any band performing this night, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart went the opposite direction of Zaza, giving the fans as much of a spectacle as possible in the small capacity venue. As The Pains broke into ‘Come Saturday’, the fans still posted in the back detached themselves from the walls and bar to join the crowd at the main stage. Playing an escalating set of songs from their debut album The Pains kept the crowd in anticipation of what was to come, building the energy with each song. Between songs singer Kip Berman paid homage to ‘Mother Father’, saying he was siked to play with them in Nashville, generating a round of applause from the mostly Vanderbilt student crowd. Behind a Nord Lead synth, Keyboardist Peggy Wang brought the noise part of the noise-pop act, but failed to live up to the backing vocals found on the album. Taking a short break to change guitars, Peggy told jokes before closing the set with an amped up version of ‘Everything With You’. After getting a taste of Brooklyn’s noise pop from The Pains, Nashville locals were left with an appetite for more.

>

Backed by a five piece band and sporting a 2 foot bongo drum K’NAAN took center stage starting his portion of the party with the track ‘Bang Bang’. Moving though songs from his rightfully critically acclaimed album Troubadour, K’NAAN repped for his home country of Africa calling “T.I.A!” to which the crowd responded “WHOO RAY!”. Rocking a black shirt with an Africa outline, Rayzak hyped the crowd, amping K’NAAN’s vocals thoughout the set. Midway though the set K’NAAN‘s band fell to the back as he performed a emotionally changed acapella version of ‘Wavin Flag’ as the crowd waved their arms back and forth. Rapping about his home country and struggle of his past K’NAAN ended the set with ‘Somalia’ as the crowd filled in the ‘La La La’ vocals in unison.

As the sun started to set Okkervil River took the stage to grace the crowd with a chilled out folk performance. Singer Will Sheff connected to the crowd with his lyrics as if he was engaged in an intimate conversation with each concert goer. Blazing though older tracks as well as ‘Pop Lie’, ‘Lost Coastlines’ and ‘Starry Stairs’ from their latest release The Stand Ins, Okkervil kept the energy high, jamming with each other and taking advantage of their set time with a great light show.

A DJ played backing tracks as two figures, dressed in gold jackets, appeared on opposite sides of the stage. A low synth floated from the speakers inflating the crowds anticipation of Santigold’s performance. A moment later Santi bounced to center stage dressed in a bright blue jumpsuit and gold jacket shouting the lyrics for ‘You’ll Find A Way’. With a performance that shows she is worthy of her many accolades Santigold, burned though hits from Santigold including ‘Creator’ and ‘Say Aha’. ‘Smells like popcorn, right?’ she asked the crowd before breaking into ‘L.E.S. Artistes’. Apexing the set with ‘Shove it’, the Disco D produced hit which Kanye sampled for the Jay-Z song ‘Brooklyn Go Hard’, Santi informed the crowd that she had to ‘rep for my home’. As the crowd finally settled in Santi finished her set with ‘Creator’, ‘Starstruck’ and ‘Unstoppable’ to which the crowd chanted ‘I’ve got to be unstoppable’ with Santi responding ‘Vanderbilt, I believe you!’

As DJ Statik Selektah played a quote from Barack Obama, Q-Tip stormed the stage pumping his fist in the air. After paying tribute to J Dilla with the track ‘Fever’, Tip took a short pause before erupting into ‘Let’s Ride’. Mid way though the set the power to the audio went out causing Q-Tip to stop the band momentarily. Undeterred by the short in the cable, Tip found a working microphone and began to beatbox, entertaining the crowd while the problem was fixed. Performing for an hour and a half the second half of Tip‘s set played as a greatest hits including ‘Bonita Applebum’, ‘World Tour’, ‘Vivrant Thing’ and ‘Scenario’. Mixing party anthems with chilled out soul vibes Q-Tip made sure that a good time was had by all.

With T.I.’s DJ already onstage playing instrumentals a shadowy figure made his way to center stage. “Buck is in the building!” the DJ announced to ear splitting applause. Apparently Nashville was in the building also.

T.I. took the stage running through the 1st verses of most songs on his album as well as his guest verses from the previous year. T.I. sent a barrage of hits through the speakers that kept the crowd bouncing. Pausing between songs T.I. spoke to the crowd on his soon approaching time in jail, giving back to the community and helping the kids from his show ‘Road to Redemption’, at which point he brought Pee Wee out on stage to serve as hype man for the remainder of the concert. After an hour of hits T.I. finished strong with cuts from his newest album ‘Paper Trail’ including ‘Whatever You Like’, ‘My Life’ and ‘What You Know About That’ from ‘King’. As the first day of Rites of Spring came to a close the crowd exited fully satisfied and ready for day two.

Take a look at our coverage of the 2nd day of the Rites of spring festival.

Cathy over at Suburban Roads posted a great interview with Blue Sky Reality.

Check out a video of T.I.’s performance at Blender.

For concert footage go over to you tell cocerts and check out Chrystal‘s video from the concert.

Photos by: Alex Person

10:00 After walking Asheville for the better part of the day we headed to Nashwa‘s to join the crowd that was lined up outside. Joel Stout of Coma Gun Music was outside greeting guests as they recieved their tickets from will call.

DJ Rootz adrenaline fueled set could be heard as we walked the hallway connecting Nashwa‘s to Hookah Joe’s. Even with the majority of the crowd yet to arrive Rootz energy was as if the venue was filled to capacity. Rootz amped the crowd mixing T.I., UGK, and T-Pain over his own instrumentals working the crowd into a frenzy.

11:00 Back to back DJ sets allowed Midnight Ace to seemlessly take the stage and build on the energy from DJ Rootz set. Wearing lacrosse pads adorned with glow necklaces and sipping a bottle of champagne, Midnight Ace ping ponged the state of the crowd, feeding off the energy of the crowd before returning it to them in audio form.

12:20 After keeping the crowd in anticipation for 20 minutes Future Rock appeared on stage sending the crowd into overdrive. Bassist Felix Moreno engaged the crowd from the front of stage as Keyboardist Mickey Kellerman and Dummer Darren Heitz jammed on stage left and right. Rainbow colored lights lite up the stage and crowd creating an explosion of color that pulsated along to the deafening bass. With the set more intense as it drew on, Future Rock connected to the crowd making it clear that the band was having just as much fun as the concert goers of Tron A Thon.

1:45 DJ Bowie initiated his set with samples of Lil Wayne, Lean Wit It Rock Wit It, and Beastie Boys giving the remaining crowd a show worthy of a headlining act.

3:00 Riding the wave of DJ Bowie‘s set, Eliot Lipp pulled the strings of the crowd with psyched out versions of the Funky Worm and Run DMC. With the temperature dropping outside people filled Nashwa‘s for the festival closing set. After a short break Lipp encored for another 20 minutes bringing the clock hands to 4:30. When the final song had been played people reluctantly exited the club, flooding the streets on the way to their hotels.

Tron A Thon exceeded expectations leaving concert goers more than satisfied. With another Tron A Thon already in the works, promoters have set the bar high for another event that is sure to be a success.

Photos by: Alex Person

Here are some Vids from the venue taken by Midnight Ace!

Vanderbilt is hosting the Rites of Spring festival on April 17th and 18th in Nashville Tennessee. The schedule includes The Flaming Lips, N.E.R.D., Q-Tip, and T.I., in one of his final performances before reporting to jail later this year. Weekend passes are 45$ in advanced and 55$ at the time of the concert. Buzzafied.com will be bringing you exclusive coverage of the festival, so keep checking back.

Friday

Battle of the Bands: 3:20-3:40pm

Battle of the Bands: 4:00-4:20pm

Run With Bulls: 4:40-5:10pm

Blueskyreality: 5:30-6:00pm

K’NAAN: 6:20-7:05pm

Okkervil River: 7:25-8:10pm

Santigold: 8:30-9:10pm

Q-Tip: 9:30-10:30pm

T.I.: 11:00-12:00am

_______________

Saturday

Gates Open: 3:00pm

Pico vs. Island Trees: 3:20-3:50pm

Stardeath and White Dwarfs: 4:05-4:35pm

Erick Baker: 4:50-5:20pm

Sara Watkins: 5:40-6:10pm

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears: 6:30-7:10pm

Grand Ole Party: 7:30-8:10pm

N.E.R.D.: 8:40-9:55pm

The Flaming Lips: 10:30-12:00am