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OUTSIDE LANDS 2012: Looking Back + Interview w/ Caveman

​Safely returned to the mid-August L.A. swelter, we took to the airwaves of Virgin Mobile Live on Friday to recap last weekend’s Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival in San Francisco. The beautiful cloudy chill of Golden Gate Park played gracious host to an immaculate lineup of artists from all eras and most genres past, present, and future. Check out our recap below featuring music from some of our favorite Outside Lands artists as well as an interview we did backstage on Saturday with New York band Caveman.

SETLIST

Little Stevie Wonder – Fingertips (Part 2) [extended edit] Tame Impala – Lucidity
MICS UP: Metallica – For Whom The Bell Tolls
Portugal. The Man – So American
Birdy – People Help the People (Cherry Ghost Cover)
Foo Fighters – Big Me
MICS UP: *Bruce Rave w/ Raves Fave
*Bloc Party – Team A
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)
Caveman – Thankful
INTERVIEW w/ Caveman backstage at Outside Lands, SF 2012
Big Boi & Theophilus London – She Said OK (Feat. & Tre Luce) [Clean]

Click here for more coverage on Outside Lands 2012.

Outside Lands (Official)

reviewed by
08-19-12

OUTSIDE LANDS DAY 3 WRAP: Stevie Wonder, Bloc Party, Jack White, Santigold, City & Colour

Stevie’s a legend and any opportunity to see one of the greatest singers/songwriters/people ever should be savored.

Bloc Party brought their OK live show to an absolutely packed Twin Peaks stage. The Brits, although not world beaters on their instruments, created enough onstage energy to have the house locked in and engaged.

Uncle Jack did his best Johnny Depp impersonation for 70 minutes accompanied by a fiddler, double bassist, and a bathtub stomper (We made the bathtub part up). White’s closer “Seven Nation Army” turned a 50/50 psyched/apathetic crowd into a sea of Euro Cup 2012-esque revelers.

Santi White’s 50 minute Twin Peaks set featured big beats, womps, some neat live instrumentation and lots of crowd participation (incl. bringing up approx. 30-40 kids for 2012 single “Disparate Youth”)

Dallas Green’s City & Colour kept the vibes cool and the performance simple, running through a great set of acoustic-driven paeans to love, loss & life.

reviewed by
08-13-12

OUTSIDE LANDS DAY 2 WRAP: Metallica, Sigur Ros, The Kills, Big Boi, Michael Kiwanuka, Alabama Shakes, Portugal. The Man

YEAHHH. The Hetfield “YEAHH” and “HUGGHH” count was high as cartoon band Metallica closed the main stage on Saturday with a two hour set of the band’s classic material.

The swells of fog and mist provided a dreamlike backdrop for Icelandic vets Sigur Ros’s stunning set.

The Kills’ Allison Mosshart gets an A+ for effort (and flailing) for trying to get the semi-disinterested crew of front-of-the-main-stage-assembeled Metallica fans engaged in their set.

Big Boi made good on a MacArthurian promise to return after “technical difficulties” killed off his set last year. The Atlanta MC blew through a commensurable mix of Outkast staples and newer solo material.

Michael Kiwanuka is a star. The soul songwriter filed away another top level performance at the Panhandle Stage.

The scene around Alabama Shakes 4 PM set was one of absolute and total chaos. Drawing a crowd that could compete with many of the headlining acts, Brittany and her lot sounded great even from great distances.

P. The Man brought the Bowie, the big guitars, and vastly improved performance chops to their hour long main stage set.

reviewed by
08-12-12

OUTSIDE LANDS DAY 1 WRAP: Neil Young, Foo Fighters, Washed Out, Tennis, Of Monsters and Men, The Walkmen, Fitz and the Tantrums

Uncle Neil put the toy trains away long enough to burn through a scorching mix of newer material (songs about love, Canada, farming, etc ….) and Neil classics (songs about love, Canada, farming, etc).

Growl and Co. have a seemingly inexhaustible repertoire of modern rock radio hits at their disposal and the FF crew (now featuring Pat Smear!) were not shy about their deployment. Closer “Everlong”, one of those perfect alt rock songs, had even the most casual Foo fan head noddin’.

“Chill”wave (C.A.F. Fogwave?) took on a whole new meaning as Southerners Washed Out played their beachside vibe jams to a bathed-in-50-degrees-and-mist house at the Panhandle Stage.

Tennis’ windswept set was defined by OK to good execution of great songs.

Newcomers Of Monsters and Men turned out a HUGE crowd (of fans? or people bored with Beck?) The band’s songs and performance were tight and sharp but definitely after the first twenty minutes or so (at least to the ears of the relatively unfamiliar (us)) started to blend together maybe a little too much.

NYC vets The Walkmen impressed with their trademark big guitar atmospheres (think a spaghetti western set inside a dust-filled city alley) and singer Hamilton Leithhauser’s (one of the best names in rock) awesome Rod Stewart-esque caterwaul.

Fitz and his assembled Tantrums earn their dough on their uptempo high-energy live show, which the band easily and flawlessly delivered to the OSL Friday early birds.

reviewed by
08-11-12

PREVIEW: Outside Lands 2012, August 9-11, San Francisco

B3SCI land in SF on Friday to cover this weekend’s awesome Outside Lands festival. The lineup is stacked this year and includes b3sci all-time faves Stevie Wonder and Neil Young (seriously, how will we be able to handle so much greatness in one weekend?) as well as a great undercard of other favorites of the blog; including, Michael Kiwanuka, Futurebirds, Tennis, Tame Impala, Birdy, Metallica (jk), Sharon Van Etten and more! Check out some of our recommendations below for this weekend’s can’t miss sets and must see bands & artists; and stay tuned for more coverage live from and following the festival.

FRIDAY

Futurebirds 12:00-12:40 (Panhandle)

PAPA 12:45-1:30 (Twin Peaks)

Sharon Van Etten 1:15-2:05 (Sutro)

Fitz and the Tantrums 3:10-4:05 (Lands End)

The Walkmen 3:55-4:55 (Sutro)

Beck 4:30-5:15 (Lands End)

Washed Out 7:50-8:35 (Panhandle)

Neil Young & Crazy Horse 8:10-9:55 (Lands End)

SATURDAY

Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons 12:00-12:45 (Sutro)

Tame Impala 1:50-2:40 (Lands End)

Father John Misty 2:55-3:35 (Panhandle)

Alabama Shakes 3:50-4:40 (Sutro)

Michael Kiwanuka 4:30-5:10 (Panhandle)

Big Boi 5:15-6:05 (Twin Peaks)

The Kills 6:10-7:10 (Lands End)

Sigur Ros 8:40-9:55 (Twin Peaks)

SUNDAY

Birdy 1:20-2:00 (Panhandle)

Caveman 2:50-3:30 (Panhandle)

City and Colour 3:45-4:35 (Sutro)

Santigold 5:10-6:00 (Twin Peaks)

Bloc Party 6:45-7:45 (Twin Peaks)

Stevie Wonder 7:20-9:30 (Lands End)

reviewed by
08-08-12

Chet Faker – 1998 (Feat. Banks)

chetfakerbanks

Get enthralled by the soulfully sonorous male-female vocal juxtaposition (including a new interpret of Faker’s classic catchy hook) and a beautiful artistically-laid seamless meld of old and new on Chet Faker’s new golden-vocaled Banks-infused indie-dance reinterpret of “1998”, his poppy r&b banger hit from last year. Faker’s newest interpretation of “1998” recently premiered on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 and helped to launch his world tour (which kicks off on July 31st). Reviewed by Erin Shay.

7/31: Montreal, Canada @ Osheaga Music & Arts Festival
08/01: Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza Music & Arts Festival
08/03: Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
08/04: Denver, CO @ Gothic Theatre
08/07: San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands
08/15: Seattle, WA @ 1077 The End Summer Camp 2015
08/16: Portland, OR @ KNRK 94.7 Birthday Concert
08/22: Los Angeles, CA @ FYF Fest
10/30: Melbourne, AUS @ Arts Centre Melbourne, Sidney Myer Music Bowl
10/31: Brisbane, AUS @ Riverstage
11/06: Sydney, AUS @ Sydney Opera House Forecourt
11/07: Sydney, AUS @ Sydney Opera House Forecourt

Chet Faker australia (Soundcloud

reviewed by
07-29-15

tUnE-yArDs – Gangsta (Ad Rock Remix)

tuneyards

We caught tUnE-yArDs at Outside Lands in SF this past weekend. The band drew a huge crowd for their side stage performance. The actual set was just awwwright. Anyway, (segue), Beastie Boys royalty Ad Rock turns the t-ys blogosphere smash “Gangsta” from a bouncer to a stunner. Now watch while we stunt.

tUnE-yArDs – Gangsta (Ad Rock Remix)

Ad Rock newyork (Twitter)

reviewed by
08-15-11

Portugal. The Man – “Do You” & “People Say”

the-satanic-satanist-portugal-the-man

Portugal. The Man – “Do You”

Portugal. The Man – “People Say”

a few from their fourth coming album The Satanic Satanist due July 21st. portugal. the man are a particularly prolific and consistent band.. four albums in four years is definitely an accomplishment, especially considering they’re all pretty dec. only US dates are lolla and outside lands this summer, stoked to hear the new stuff live. “what a lovely day yeah we won the war, we may have lost a million people but we got a million more… it’ll be alright… all the people they’ll see” you know, just telling it like it is..

get the satanic satanist

rating: 8.2

brown81

reviewed by
06-28-09

WRAP: The Great Escape 2014 in Brighton, UK

the_great_escape_2014

The Great Escape continues to be an awesome event for new music enthusiasts wanting to get a leg-up on international bands poised to make moves. With the 2014 edition including 400+ bands playing over three days in 30+ venues, there’s no lack of good music to check out. The festival is growing quickly with 100 more bands compared to last year. While The Great Escape (a.k.a. TGE) does share the SXSW danger of becoming too big for its own good, this event (for now) still has far more intimacy than the aforementioned Austin festival. Like always, more bands also means more schedule conflicts, and also like SXSW, even top tier Delegate and Press credentials won’t penetrate lines (or in some cases no lines) at venues. For example, Future Islands sounded great… from outside, and the TGE showcase for Wild Beasts would have been great to review had we also remembered to buy a ticket for it (thought that’s what passes were for)? And so for festivals like this, it seems the best plan of attack is to focus on artists that, to date, either haven’t or rarely play live. Both Bruce and Mike from team B3SCI were on the grounds for TGE and here’s their report:

Some 2014 faves for Bruce included Courtney Barnett, who is not only blowing up in the US but in England as well. She plays a mean guitar as it turns out. The melodic electronic artist East India Youth has been an NME darling this year, and as TGE proved, is doing quite well in England. His one-man show has a clean sound and he’s quite animated on stage. The Isle of Wight brothers, Champs, serenaded us in a church at TGE with their sweet harmonies and were also major highlights. Two UK bands, growing in local buzz, who delivered nicely onstage were Childhood and Jaws. The Australian band Calling All Cars is a metal/electronic hybrid with great songs, and they blew the walls down. Interestingly, they will soon be relocating to Manchester. Fellow Australians Sheppard just had a #1 pop single in their homeland and have a commanding stage presence to back it up. The UK’s Echotape have forsaken their art-pysch direction for a more straight forward rock direction that shows strong potential. Amber Run was a fave (see below). Finally, Portland’s Rare Monk must get a shout out. I joined Mike from B3Sci for their 1:30am set on Saturday night. This Portland band is making major forward strides. Their mid-tempo bluesy rock is played with precise power and competence.

Some 2014 faves for Mike came from both the expected and unexpected. Amber Run won audiences with pitch perfect harmonies and pop songs primed for college campuses throughout the world. The young 3-piece of/from Blaenavon lived up to their radar worthy hype with a stellar rock show to boot – big promise here. Hozier was good, while “Take Me To Church” stole the show; the band dynamic felt a bit on the safe side. After being tipped from a friend, Brussels band BRNS were a favorite surprise of TGE, with an energetic and expressive live show that was, at times, reminiscent of heavy pop pioneers WU LYF and indie rock mainstays Local Natives. Rare Monk’s alluring melange of atmospheric indie rock proved a powerful UK debut. Annie Eve drenched listeners with her knack for clever song and a live band including an accordion no less. Peace performed a pleasant ‘surprise’ set at the NME showcase, which was definitely a highlight, and Khushi was another favorite with his live band set up, showcasing what really counts… his songs.

Have a listen to some of our favorite picks from the TGE Festival below:

The Great Escape england (Official)

reviewed by
06-02-14

Interview with Breton

Breton

London collective Breton has been busy readying their second album, War Room Stories, for release this February 3rd via Cut Tooth/Believe Recordings. B3SCI writer Brian Litwin had the chance to catch up with the Breton Labs’ Roman Rappak to discuss the new album and more. Have a look at their conversation below, as well as a spin at their new excellent single “Envy”.

B3SCI: The overall buzz for your last single, “Got Well Soon” has been very positive. What was the genesis of this song idea?

Breton: The song is a rework of a track that I started in London that was then re-written in Berlin.
 
B3SCI: The video for that song is really well done and honestly had us guessing up until the last second. Can you share some of the inspiration there?

Breton: As with most of our videos, they start from a real event or something we have heard and want to explore. In the case of this video, we wanted to add something we hadn’t touched on before, which was to relate to the songs lyrics. It’s about getting caught up with a group of people or an event that gets out of your control. The two characters in the film are both trapped, in totally different ways, and we liked the idea of a coincidence occurring that resulted in them freeing each other. 
 
B3SCI: We see you released a slew of new tour dates for the end of 2013/beginning of 2014. Unfortunately, I see no Los Angeles yet. How is life on the road for you guys? How do you guys pass the time, when getting to and from dates?

Breton: We watch films, read a lot and a few of us have perfected the art of sleeping almost anywhere. We are definitely coming to LA, we have always had amazing shows there, and have really close friends who make those trips feel like total holidays 
 
B3SCI: The new album, War Room Stories, comes out soon. Was their a particular process in creating this album? How does it most differ from your 2012 release, Other People’s Problems?

Breton: War Room Stories is a totally different record in some ways, mostly because we had tools we never had to play with. This time round we had a huge hall we rented in Berlin so that we could play the whole album from start to finish every day for a month, we had an orchestra that we were able to record all the string parts with, and also we had weeks to work with the hours and hours of field recordings and sounds we had gathered from all the countries we had toured in.
 
B3SCI: War Room Stories is a really interesting title for an album. The connotation can vary from person to person. What is the general idea behind the title and album itself?

Breton: I think the best thing about this question is the idea of interpretations of words/images/songs/films changing from person to person. I’m always drawn towards things that lend themselves to different meanings or angles, and the title of the album felt like a continuation of that. As a recording, it’s a bit like an invitation into this world we escaped to when we were recording it. A War Room is a sealed/protected place, and the stories from outside will always be distorted and surreal.
 
B3SCI: So, we see that Young Money Cash Money Billionaires is following you on Twitter. Are you fans?

Breton: I was producing hiphop when I was about 14, because south London, where I grew up, was full of millions of rappers (ranging from really bad to incredibly gifted), but hardly any producers, so I ended up working on loads of different projects. YMCMB and 808 Mafia have an amazing approach to producing, with massive teams of people collaborating together and trying loads of things out. I find that kind of collaboration really exciting.

 
B3SCI: There are a lot of acts pushing the boundaries with art and music. In general, however, it feels as if art has been missing from music. Do you think there can be resurgence of that fusion that was art/music/culture i.e. 60’s counterculture?

Breton: I think a lot of those art/music/media experiments came from breakthroughs in technology. Andy Warhol using Polaroid and super 8 because they were new tools that empowered new artists is the same as the Internet/DSLRs/laptops enabling people to produce albums and films, and reach large audiences. For that reason I think this is only the start, and the next 5 years will see more and more of these tools reinventing the landscape of film, art and music even more then it has already.

B3SCI: If you had to chose… Who would you rather have as a featured vocalist on your next single: Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber? 

Breton: Bieber. He seems like someone who is about to reach his breaking point. Those kind of pop catastrophes are always fascinating.
 

Breton england (Official) (Purchase)

Rating 8.4

brown8

reviewed by
11-29-13