Live Coverage of Bonnaroo 2010 on MoeTrainsTracks.com by Moe and B!

It’s that time of year again, and Moe Train’s Tracks is headed to Manchester, TN for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival!  King B and The Train will be bringing you a totally new Tracks experience with this year’s coverage.  We’ll be blogging on the site as all of the action unfolds over the weekend, as well as getting great interviews with the fest’s top musicians, concert photos and more!

We embark on our trip from Philadelphia and will be arriving in Manchester, TN about 12 (ugh!) hours later.  Who knows what the road will hold for us, besides a ridiculously long time on Route 81 (that road SUCKS!), and pure Excelsior insanity!  Keep connected to the Tracks by following on Twitter (@MoeTrainsTracks), and watching the site for lots of great updates…

We’ll be camped out by the front of the Bonnaroo arch, so if you see us, come say hi!  If we’re not there, we’ll be bouncing around the grounds doing our artist interviews, taking in a ton of shows, and interviewing people in the crowds.  We plan on checking out as much of the festival as possible, and we hope to meet as many of you as possible!  If you have any great tips  about what’s going on at the festival, or just want us to come stop by and hang out.. Message us on Twitter, and we’ll try to stop by!

Bonnaroo has always been one of our favorite festivals to cover and we’re especially looking forward to spreading our Global Domination Tour to Manchester, Tennessee and Bonnaroo!

WE’LL SEE YOU ON THE FARM!!!  BONNNNARRRROOOOOOOOOOOO!

Related articles:

• Bonnaroo Live Webcasts (jambase.com)
• Why They Call It… Bonnaroo (spin.com)
• FREE ALBUM! SPIN’s Picks for Bonnaroo 2010 (spin.com)

Bonnaroo Top 5 Activities: #5 – The Food Vendors

Within one month, we’ll be joining tens of thousands of festival fans in Manchester, TN at one of our favorite music festivals, Bonnaroo(oooooooooooooooooo!).  The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival has more than enough activities to keep you busy 24 hours a day throughout the festival weekend, not even counting the concerts!  Here’s a rundown of 5 of our favorite activities to hit when you’re not jamming out to the music…

(The red circle is our camping spot.)

5.  The Food Vendors

Go anywhere on the farm, and you’ll smell amazing food being cooked all over the place.  Sure, you may smell good food mixed with dirt and B.O., but it still smells pretty good!  Whether you’re in Centeroo getting churros, Chinese, gyros, gigantic slices of pizza, or you’re in the campgrounds having garlic grilled cheese, burritos, or funnel cakes, you’ll never go hungry.

For those who are Bonnaroo veterans, you are very familiar with the lines of vendors which greet you on the way into Centeroo.  Can corn dogs be considered a breakfast!  Hell yeah.  It’s Bonnaroo!  Virtually anything that you could crave (or have the munchies for) can be found on the farm.  We had the giant gyros almost every night, and they definitely gave us the strength to power on for the late night scene.

Didn’t do enough pregaming at your tent?  Hit the Brooers Tent and sample some amazing beers from all over the US.  It’s the microbrew fan’s dream.  Yeah, we know.  You’re not supposed to be drinking during the day… As soon as we get our interviews and on the scene crowd stuff done, we’re indulging.

So stay healthy at Roo.  Keep your body fueled with the amazing eats and drinks to be found on the farm.  It’ll keep you happy and alive!

Related articles:

• Ben & Jerry’s Bonnaroo Flavor (jambase.com)
• Bonnaroo Food Drive (jambase.com)
• Fuse & Twix want to send you and ten of your friends to Bonnaroo 2010 (gadling.com)

Goldfrapp – Head First (7.5/10)

There is an epic battle raging throughout Head First between its 80’s-montage-electro-pop-awesomeness half and its ambient-Yanni-crappola half.  Ultimately, the awesomeness prevails, but not without a price.

Goldfrapp – Head First (7.5 out of 10)

There is an epic battle raging throughout Head First between its 80’s-montage-electro-pop-awesomeness half and its ambient-Yanni-crappola half.  Ultimately, the awesomeness prevails, but not without a price.  Admittedly, at one point during my listening, I brought the laptop into the bathroom and played it while I showered/manscaped and I ended up dancing my buck-naked ass off.  So…

- B

Second Opinion:

No comment about the album (haven’t given it a good listen yet), but WOW to B’s questionable behavior!  hahahah…

- Moe

Lifehouse – Smoke and Mirrors (6.5/10)

Although it’s lyrically shallow, a handful of songs are perplexingly enjoyable.  Might have to chalk this one up to a guilty pleasure listen and let everyone else agree to disagree.

Lifehouse – Smoke and Mirrors (6.5 out of 10)

An undeniably generic American rock album that should sell competitively in Walmarts throughout the Midwest.  Although it’s lyrically shallow, a handful of songs are perplexingly enjoyable.  Might have to chalk this one up to a guilty pleasure listen and let everyone else agree to disagree.

*Expect to hear Halfway Gone during NFL games as they transition in and out of commercial breaks.

- B

MoeTrainsTracks.com Version 2 (Pt. 2)

Here’s part 2 of the MoeTrainsTracks.com transformation:

• Album Reviews: We know. “Everyone’s a critic these days.” MTT has always been independent and uncensored, and our reviews will remain that way. No long, drawn out, wordfests that you have to sift through just to hear if we thought the album was Excelsior or not. We’ll keep it short, so you can get to the listening.
• Tracks’ Tweets: Yeah, we use Twitter. You can follow Moe Train (@MoeTrainsTracks) and King B (@MTTracks_KingB) on your own Twitter app, or read our streams on the front page of MTT.com. We’re constantly updating our Twitter streams, so keep an eye on it to know what we’re up to at all times!
• iPhone App Reviews: Excelsior is a big fan of our iPhones, and we’ll let you know some of the apps that get us through everyday life (and those which you shouldn’t waste your money on!) This section will just be a small added bonus on MTT.com, but don’t worry, the tech geek side in us will stay pretty quiet.
• Music News: We’ll always have the latest world music news streaming on the right sidebar on MTT.com.
• Photo Galleries: Our photo galleries will feature photos that we’ve shot, as well as outside contributors’ pics. We’d like to showcase individual photographers, so if you feel that your pictures are especially Excelsior, contact us, and you may be featured on the site!

  

  Image via CrunchBase

Thanks again to our 130,000+ listeners worldwide, and the tons of readers who have stuck with us since day one. We have a blast creating new content for all of you, and will continue on the same path for years to come. Don’t forget! Festival Season is upon us, and we’ll be seeing you out on the road very soon!

To Excelsior!

- Brian “B” Kracyla and Monty “Moe Train” Wiradilaga

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (8/10)

The Gorillaz are truly an enjoyable enigma, a band whose musical distinctiveness is to have no musical identity at all.

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach (8 out of 10)

The Gorillaz are truly an enjoyable enigma, a band whose musical distinctiveness is to have no musical identity at all.  And yet, unintuitively, the final product is always consistent quality.   Collabo’s galore on this 3^rd album: Lou Reed, Bobby Womack, Mos Def, sinfonia ViVA, Snoop, De La Soul, y mas.

Truthfully, the virtual group would benefit from larger doses of vocalist/producer Damon Albarn, instead of his fleet of guest contributors, mostly because Plastic Beach really shines when the Gorillaz are rolling solo (check out Rhinestone Eyes and On Melancholy Hill).  Granted, on some tracks Albarn creates a sonic backdrop that just screams to have someone drop a verse on it.

Related articles:

• LISTEN: Gorillaz Track with Mos Def (spin.com)
• Exclusive: Watch Gorillaz’s Latest “Plastic Beach” Teaser (rollingstone.com)
• LISTEN: New Gorillaz Song with De La Soul (spin.com)

MGMT

A classic interview with Andrew and Ben From MGMT in 2008 just as they broke as major new players on the music scene.

MGMT Interview on Moe Train’s Tracks

Andrew Vanwyngarden, Ben Goldwasser (MGMT)

Monty Wiradilaga, Brian Kracyla (Moe Train’s Tracks)

Starlight Ballroom – Philadelphia, PA

Here’s a great interview that was rescued from The Tracks’ vaults…  Back in early 2008, MTT caught up with Andrew and Ben from MGMT in Philadelphia, PA.

MGMT had just gotten a major break in the music scene with the widespread critical success of Oracular Spectacular.  Keep an eye on MoeTrainsTracks.com for tons of great new content!

Moe:  We saw you guys down at Bonnaroo for your set, it was a great way to open up the weekend.  I was a pretty epic show if I must say.

Andrew: Yeah, it was fun.  We had been to Bonnaroo before so it was good to see it from the side of the artist instead of the person in the crowd.  It was only our second festival show.

M:  Oh really, where was the first, Coachella?

A:  Yeah.

M:  So how do they compare?

A:  I don’t know, Coachella was crazier for us because we were more nervous.  Bonnaroo was a little more relaxed and cool.

M:  You guys just started tour together with a band right?

Ben:  We started practicing with them about a year ago.  I think we were kinda thrust into exposure a little too quickly for our taste.  We played on national television after we had only been touring with the band for a couple of months.

M:  Was that on Letterman?

B:  Yeah.

M:  You looked a little nervous.

B:  Yeah, we were very nervous!  But we’re getting more comfortable and we don’t have to think as hard when we’re playing, its kinda getting to be more natural.  We’re getting used to playing for crowds.

M:  Did you guys have sound problems at Bonnaroo in the beginning, what was going on?

B:  Yeah, well, the festival thing, we hardly ever really get a sound check so it’s always a little weird starting out.

A:  I think the monitors were pretty messed up.

M:  (to Andrew) Oh, by the way, you had on some pretty fucking crazy pants.  I remember walking up to set and saying ‘holy shit’, those bright blue ones!

A:  Tropical floral bellbottoms, yeah.  Really big bellbottoms. 

M:  They looked comfortable though!

A:  Yeah, they’re real comfortable.

M:  Saw you guys backstage, you guys looked pretty chill, pretty relaxed, so I guess you feel like you’re falling into place with everything.

B:  We’re good at hanging out.  We’re good at relaxing.

M:  Any standout moments yet from your recent successes?

B:  We just played at the Oxygen festival in Ireland and that was really crazy.  There were all these people climbing up the towers that were holding up the tent and we had to stop the show because this girl made it all the way to the roof of the tent so that you couldn’t even see her anymore and everyone was yelling at her telling her to come down.

M:  Did she take a spill?

B:  No, it would have been ugly if she had!  That was probably at least 60 feet up in the air or something.  It was pretty crazy.

M:  I saw a video of you guys at some festival in Scotland that you guys were playing and you were walking around the grounds, checking out the scene; Andrew you like the thrill-rides?

A:  As much as I’d like to keep the myth going that I like thrill-rides, I’m new to them.  I’ve been on like Space Mountain and most of the Disney rides, and I like those a lot.  I was like twenty when I started going on roller coasters, so I don’t think I’d go on the Slingshot thing.  I would vomit.

M:  You guys got together at Wesleyan, and you were actually making music that you thought would be annoying?

A:  We knew it was annoying.

M:  Just to fuck around, just playing, just to amuse yourselves?

A:  I dunno…  We were young and foolish.

M:  You were freshman?

A:  Yeah.

M:  So it was basically putting that freshman energy, that drunken and banged up energy back into the music.

A:  Yeah, exactly.

M:  What’s up with the clothing optional dorm?

B:  At some point it was designated a “clothing optional” dorm but there aren’t many people walking around naked there.  There were a few, and we were friends with most of them.

A:  I did naked calisthenics with Vin Popper on time.  (all laugh)

B:  Nice.

M:  Tell us about some of those early dorm session jams.  We used to do the same thing.  We’d go out to parties, get all fucked up and come back and just grab our instruments at like 2 o’clock in the morning and start jamming.  So what was it like with you guys getting together?

B:  It was a lot like that.  It’s was just kinda very casual, just having fun.  We had a lot of other friends that we played music with and we were both in other bands at the same time.  It wasn’t like we started a band in order to get successful and get fans and all that, we just started it for something to do and didn’t really care if anyone liked it.

M:  You guys just probably wrote the album for yourselves.

B:  In a way, I mean, we know we were writing it for other people because we had signed a record deal at that point, so we had a delivery date, so there was a little bit of pressure on us but when we were writing the songs we didn’t think that anyone was actually gonna hear the album, so it was pretty much just writing it for ourselves.

M:  So I guess its still a surprise with all of this going on?

B:  Yeah, its still a surprise.  And, I don’t know, it keeps getting crazier!

M:  When you guys were first recording you guys had a pretty gritty sound right?  I mean, if you were recording back in your dorms you’re going to have that unintentional gritty, natural sound.  Did you guys try to replicate that sound?

B:  In a way it was the other way around because we were doing a lot of stuff just on computers, so a lot of it was very electronic and very clean sounding.  I think we’ve tried to get dirtier.

M:  You had the producer who worked with the Flaming Lips.  Did you guys pick him because he had that psychedelic background?

A:  We kinda just chose him because we talked to him and we’re fans of the Flaming Lips and other stuff he’s done, like Sleater-Kinney and Mogwai.  He’s not the kind of producer that wants to mold the band into something, he kinda just lets them do their own thing.  So, he was good for us.

M:  So did the album come out exactly how you wanted it to come out?

A:  At the time I think it did, yeah.

M:  Looking back now, what do you think?

A:  I’m sure now if we listened to it a bunch, we’d probably change stuff.  But we think it’s good that we can’t because it captures that moment.

M:  I see you in a lot of pictures wearing sunglasses, you’re not becoming Bono are you?

A:  I hope to God not!!  If I am you should stab me…

M:  What’s your beef with him?

A:  Nah, I just don’t like him.  I heard he’s a great guy, and he seems like he’s got good intentions.  I think it’s really the sunglasses that piss me off the most.  So, now I’m never going to wear sunglasses again.

M:  Will you burn them in effigy?

A:  We stabbed an effigy at our senior recital.

M:  Ben, you said, “To give music meaning you have to have your back up against something”; What, you don’t remember?

A:  (laughs) You sound like Thoreau or something.

M:  Yeah, I guess you were being pretty introspective.

B:  I guess maybe just having some resistance kind of helps.  With us, when we got signed and we had to deal with all the kind of big-record-label bullshit for the first time, I think it kind of forced us to look at what we’re doing and try to give it as much meaning as possible and try to ask ourselves why we were doing it in the first place.

M:  So what’s your validation?

A:  I don’t think we’re validated.

M:  No?  What will be your validation then?

A:  If aliens approve of our music.  So, we’re waiting for contact.

M:  Waiting for the return in 2012 when the earth ends?  I know you guys are joking around about your future, about what will happen hen things will come, but we’re sitting inside of a big tour bus.  Obviously this is probably five times bigger than your dorm room was.  You said that when the fame comes around and you get the big label money that you would go get blow jobs, you would ride horses to your gigs, and go get castles.  What’s going on with the success?

B:  Yeah, we’ve both gotten blow jobs before, which is cool.  We’re working on the horses and the castles.

M:  What have you benefited from just by being in the business?

A: We get a lot of free clothes, a lot of free stuff.  And we both got haircuts for the first time in a long time.  We used to cut our own hair and now we can afford real haircuts.

M:  If you guys think that everything musically has been done before, how does MGMT stray away from the norm’?

B:  I don’t know if everything’s been done before…

A:  All the good stuff has.

B:  Yeah, all the good stuff’s been done before but pretty much…

A:  You could string your guitar with celery or something, but that doesn’t mean it gonna be good music.

B:  Any new good thing I think comes out of recycled ideas and using them in creative ways.  Rock and roll is a pretty basic, simple form of music but there’s so many possibilities with it.

A:  You don’t have to make up your own language to write a good poem.

M:  Who is it that does that again…

A:  Sigur Ros!

M:  Oh yeah that’s right.  Did you guys see them at Bonnaroo, what’d you think?

A:  I heard for somebody that it’s much better to see them in a wide open cathedral-type space, like an indoor space, and I could see how that’d be true.  It didn’t translate that well to the festival thing.

M:  Yeah, it’s pretty grand I guess.  So, what’s the future of MGMT, or have not realized the present yet?

A:  We have trouble comprehending what’s happening at all times.  But the future should hold good things.   We’re trying to get a cabin somewhere in the woods.  James is gonna cut firewood, I had a vision of him walking towards me with an arm full of firewood and I’m gonna smile and then our dog is gonna lick our faces.

M:  (laughing)  Alright guys, thanks a lot.

Reading is Fun-Da-Mental

Reading is Fun-da-Mental.

If you were born between 1972 and 1983 (let’s not get caught up in specifics, somewhere in that range), you must read Chuck Klosterman’s Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs.  It is incredibly entertaining.  No other book has made me laugh out loud so many times (in fact this may be the only book to ever make me laugh out loud period).  Klosterman makes the kind of observations about pop culture most people fleetingly consider and ties them into astute and tangible theories regarding the psyche of a misunderstood generation (the Gen-Xers).

Here’s the synopsis from the back of the book:

“Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman — with an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and a seemingly effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter. Whether deconstructing Saved by the Bell episodes or the artistic legacy of Billy Joel, the symbolic importance of The Empire Strikes Back or the Celtics/Lakers rivalry of the 1980s, Chuck will make you think, he’ll make you laugh, and he’ll drive you insane — usually all at once.  Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is ostensibly about movies, sports, television, music, books, video games, and kittens…but, really, it’s about us. All of us. As Klosterman realizes late at night, in the moment before he falls asleep, “In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever ‘in and of itself.’”

**I’m telling you, even if you’re not a reader, check this book out.  It’s freakin great.  Don’t worry, it’s only 240 pages and the font on the pages is nice and big.

Matisyahu covers KOL and lives to tell about it.

Found a video of Matisyahu covering Kings of Leon’s Use Somebody for “Mashup Mondays” on Billboard.com.  I love when he beatboxes at the end with the acoustic guitar playing wingman.  It’s pretty legit, check it out.

Here’s the link:  http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid65813736001?bctid=74176421001

-B.

Related articles:

• Chuck Klosterman (chuckpalahniuk.net)
• Chuck Klosterman accidentally undermines ‘indie popularity’ in Pavement article (trueslant.com)
• Chuck Klosterman and the study of culture (cultureby.com)

Bill Kreutzmann (The Grateful Dead)

The Tracks brings you Mr. Bill Kreutzmann, drummer for The Grateful Dead.  In this interview, we touched on The Grateful Dead’s influence and interactions during President Obama‘s campaign, their responsibilities to the Deadheads, and if the Bay Area’s New Year’s Eve shows will be the curtain call for The Grateful Dead.

M:  Mr. Bill Kreutzmann, of the Grateful Dead, thank you very much for being here on the Tracks.

B:  Yeah, nice being here, thanks for having me.

M:  Legends… The Grateful Dead… Obviously if you think about American bands, you think about the Grateful Dead.  How do you feel the Grateful Dead’s influence and responsibility to the fans has been over the years?

B:  The responsibility lies in the love of playing music and trying to play the best music you possibly can.  For years and years we never pitched politics until this last horrendous eight years came up.  We’re always pretty much a-political and we didn’t tell the fans anything, we just entertained.  We just played music, that’s all we cared about.

M:  So you said these horrendous past eight years, how are the next years going to happen, how do you feel about it?

B:  I think the next eight years are going to be incredible.  At least it’s going to be a lot different, a lot better.  I got to meet President Obama and he’s real, man.  I stood closer than you and I are talking right now and I looked right in his eye.  He’s also from Hawaii so I kidded him about his surfing.  There was a picture of him bodysurfing and he had really good form, he was on his side and had his arm out like you’re supposed to have when you bodysurf.  I was kidding him about it, and he didn’t know where I was from, he thought Grateful Dead, he must have lived in the states or something.  He looked me in the eye real close and said, “You’re from Hawaii, aren’t you?”  That cat’s smart, man.  No, I really see a freshness.  We played the inauguration.  We played the Atlantic Ball.  He came and he met us there the first time and it was terrific.  The guy really took time to come and meet the people that helped him because we had played at Penn State to about 16,000 people, a young audience, college educated people, and that really helped.  I think the

young vote really helped him.  And the way he did his campaign was so smart.  Dave Axelrod is a wonderful person and he lead President Obama down the right path.  He said, “use computers, use the internet, don’t get lobbyist money, get donations” and that was smart.  Now he doesn’t owe any one person something, like some big corporation or something.  Of course, you know all about lobbying, I don’t want to get into all that nonsense, I dislike that myself.  That’s not politics.  You hire somebody from your state to be your senator and then they’re paid for by something

else.  That’s no good.

M:  So the Dead influenced the voter’s vote?  (laughs) Did you get him into office or what?

B:  I think we influenced them at Penn State for sure.  What happened to me is, about four or five years ago, I read his second book, The Audacity of Hope, and I said, my God, this is a dream if this guy can be president.  So I’m really happy with it.

M:  The show on New Year’s Eve is in the Bay Area.  The rumor is that that will be the farewell show for the Dead.

B:  That’s a rumor.  We have actually talked about that yet.  I’ve been asked a few questions today about plans and records and stuff but we haven’t actually gotten together and had a sit down about what we’re going to do yet.

M:  Well, thank you for the music for all these years.

B:  You bet, man!  It’s been fun!

M:  You’ve made a lot of people happy.

B:  It’s made me happy.  That’s probably why I’m still alive!  (laughs)

M:  Appreciate it.

B:  You’re welcome, man.

Related Articles:

• The Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead (futurelab.net)
• 7 Walkers Tour: Papa Mali, Bill Kreutzmann, George Porter Jr. (jambase.com)
• Bob Weir, Phil Lesh keeping the Dead alive with Furthur (pbpulse.com)

MGMT – Congratulations (8.5/10)

Congratulations, Congratulations is good, REALLY good.  Despite my best efforts to debunk the duo and finally expose them for the postmodern hipster fakes I have secretly (until now I guess) suspected them to be, they fucking did it again.

MGMT – Congratulations (8.5/10)

Congratulations, Congratulations is good, REALLY good.  Despite my best efforts to debunk the duo and finally expose them for the postmodern hipster fakes I have secretly (until now I guess) suspected them to be, they fucking did it again.  And, actually, the album’s quite brilliant.  But, I WILL catch you next time, MGMT (or once again, you’ll be the one who’s exposing me).

Prime lyric- “If you’re conscious you must be depressed, or at least cynical.”

- B

Related articles:

• MGMT – “Flash Delirium” (stereogum.com)
• MGMT’s New Album (Congratulations) Available To Stream (musicbyday.com)

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