About a year ago, I found myself on the set of a late night television show on the same afternoon as a taping by the California group, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.
Below is a YouTube blip by Tyler, the Creator, the one member of LA hip-hop posse Odd Future who is most hotly tipped to go all the way. And, well, now that LA Weekly has finally gotten around to it, I should probably publish my post about them too.
Two quick recommendations of younger artists I've been enjoying of late. What they lack in polish or a full-on musical philosophy they more than make up for in terms of freshness.
Tickets went on sale last week for The New Yorker festival, the annual roundelay of uber-cultured readings, panels, concerts & events which -- much like The New Yorker itself -- are perhaps a bit too self-consciously about Culture with a capital C rather than about the culture (lower case c) that they are presenting.
One reason I stopped being a full-time music writer is that I hate feeling compelled to write about what I'm hearing when language fails to do justice to the sound. It should also go without saying that, at times, what one sees at a concert actually seems even more important than the music.