If people thought Lana Del Rey shouldn't have been on Saturday Night Live, I wonder what they think of Karmin.
If you don't know the duo, Karmin's famous for doing covers of pop songs on YouTube. But Saturday night, they played two original songs on SNL.
Also of note: Karmin lead singer Amy Heidemann graduated from Seward High School in Seward, Neb. She met Nick Noonan and Berklee College of Music where they formed Karmin.
The first of the band's two songs on SNL, "Brokenhearted," was really poppy and will appeal to fans of Katy Perry or Pink. It's mostly innocuous and the band did sound pretty good with a full band behind them.
What wasn't so great was the rapping verses. Heidemann kind of went into this Nicki Minaj-style tone and it came off totally goofy. She sounded OK, but when she bent at the knees and started dishing rhymes, she looked very out of place.
Heidemann kept her goofy poof hairdo during the second song, "I Told You So," where she did even more rapping. The song was much more of a rap jam, and I think they'd do better to stick with the pop hooks.
Honestly, the whole thing feels a little forced from the rapping to the overall look. It's like they're trying to take everything that's popular right now (Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, etc.) and jam them all together. Both Noonan and Heidemann are really talented (and their covers are clever), but their originals end up coming off as imitations of other artists that are neither as as interesting or well-made as those they're imitating.
Last night's Grammy Awards telecast was the best I've seen in years. Most of the performances were fruitful, they actually gave out awards every once in awhile and some of the performances were incredible.
Let's start with the awards. No surprise, Adele and Foo Fighters took home almost everything, but deservedly so. I predicted 20 of the main categories and I ended up getting 14 out of 20 correct. The song that screwed me up the most was "All of the Lights," which isn't all that good but one a bunch of hip-hop awards anyway.
I was happy to see Foo Fighters win so many awards. They definitely had one of the best rock albums of 2011. Bon Iver also took home two trophies and I liked hearing Justin Vernon both be grateful and make a comment on how many worthy artists would never even be nominated.
Unfortunately, Omaha recording legend Tom Ware didn't win. He was nominated for his work on Lady Gaga's album, "Born This Way." Adele couldn't be stopped last night and she took the trophy for album of the year ahead of Gaga (and Ware, who was among 17 people included in the nomination for "Born This Way").
As for the performances, let's break down the best and worst.
THE BEST
Paul McCartney's performance of his song "My Valentine" was a total yawn-fest, but his telecast-ending performance of the medley from "Abbey Road" was incredible. Best of the night, in my opinion, although if you were watching in Omaha, you saw KMTV unceremoniously interrupt it with the evening news. I haven't gotten comment from the station as to what happened, but I'll post as soon as I do.
I was most skeptical of pairing the reunited Beach Boys with Foster The People and Maroon 5 because I thought they'd do a weird mashup of "Pumped Up Kicks," "Moves Like Jagger" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice," which would have been a total travesty. But it was actually a medley of all Beach Boys songs performed by each group. It ended up being a great tribute and the Beach Boys looked pretty good even though Brian Wilson looked a little overwhelmed.
I was also really skeptical of the "dance music" segment that was going to include David Guetta, deadmau5, Foo Fighters, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown. It ended up being like a live version of an electro mashup and it was pretty cool if not awkward at moments. I think most viewers probably wouldn't get it, but it was certainly a step in the right direction.
Jennifer Hudson's tribute to Whitney Houston was appropriate and moving.
I also liked that Foo Fighters got a big slot to play "Walk," but why were they stuck in the outside tent? It appeared that the edgy stuff wasn't allowed inside the actual ceremony, so they had to stick it outside. Weird. (Also, did anyone else think that it was weird to hear a guy who's voiced two animated panda films, Jack Black, talk about having indie cred?)
THE WORST Nicki Minaj, what were you thinking? Ugh. Whomever told her this performance would be a good idea should be fired. Instead of doing something people knew, she went with newer track "Roman Holiday" and a Lady Gaga-imitating performance that will/did offend just about any Christian watching it.
Chris Brown needs to learn how to sing and dance at the same time or how to lip sync better. Either way, it was completely obvious that he was lip syncing the entire performances, which looked like a life-size version of the video game Q-Bert.
Hey! Yeah, you. The Grammy Awards telecast starts in a little while and we're going to talk about it.
Tune into CBS and join us starting around 6:30 p.m. to talk about the performers (Beach Boys, Foo Fighters), the host (LL Cool J... really?) and wonder what in the hell it is that Lady Gaga is wearing.
I'm not going to do OEA Award predictions because I already know who's won. No, I can't tell you. It's a secret. Go to the awards and find out yourself. They're Sunday night at the Hilton Omaha. You can get tickets here.
Speaking of the Grammy Awards, I have written a whole column of predictions, which you can check out in the paper and on Omaha.com on Sunday. I also talked to Omahan Tom Ware, who's nominated to win a best album Grammy for his work on Lady Gaga's "You and I." Others nominated with Nebraska ties are jazz singer Karrin Allyson and the Chiara String Quartet. It would be great for Ware to win, but I'm guessing Adele will take home just about every trophy she's nominated for.
On Sunday night just before the Grammy telecast (it starts at 7 p.m.), I'll be doing a live chat right here on the blog and on Omaha.com/music. Tune in with me and we can talk the awards and performances. We can also mock people. It's fun.
Now, on with the shows coming this weekend:
• Tonight at the Waiting Room is a hard rock show headlined by The Wreckage. Show's at 9. $7 at the door.
• Slowdown is closed tonight, but reopens tomorrow with Pert Near Sandstone and The Big Deep. Expect a lot of banjo and toe-tapping. 9 p.m. show. $8 tickets.
• I like the lineup at O'Leaver's on Saturday night. It's Dirty Fluorescents' one-year anniversary show with Techlepathy, Comme Reel and Melissa Dundis. As usual, show starts at 9:30 p.m. with a $5 cover.
• If I were to pick a show for the weekend, I'd go to the MS Society benefit Saturday at the Waiting Room. Not only will Rock N Roll Suicide play David Bowie's "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars" in its entirety, but a band called the Ranch Bowl Orphans will play a bunch of songs by bands that played the old bowling alley's stage a bunch of times. Bands such as Grasshopper Takeover, Clever, 5 Story Fall, The Fonzarellis and Blue Moon Ghetto are groups I saw there a lot.
• Singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs plays the Waiting Room on Sunday. 9 p.m. show. $10 tickets.
• On Sunday after the OEA Awards, Slowdown also hosts an after-party. Snake Island! and BASSthoven play starting at 9:30 p.m. It's free with an OEAA ticket or $5 at the door.
The Head And The Heart is one of my favorite bands from last year. I probably saw them more times than any other band (twice at SXSW and twice in Omaha) in 2011.
The folky Portland band's show at the Waiting Room was fantastic. Apparently, the cameras were rolling since you can catch some shots of the Omaha rock club in the band's new video for "Down In The Valley."
The video shows the band in its van, loading equipment, doing sound check and performing at various places. You can see the the Waiting Room's loading ramp for a beat at the 1:23 mark and then a little more of the inside of the club at the 1:59 mark.
There also appear to be a couple of shots of the backstage room at the Waiting Room, too. It's not much, but it's still cool.
Saddle Creek Shop, the little indie record store run by Saddle Creek Records, is starting two new music event series.
The first is Record Club @ Shop. Though I hoped it would be a club that sends out regular, limited-edition releases from the label, it's still a cool idea. Like a book club, the record club will involve listening to a classic or recently-released album and talking about it. The first installment will naturally be Cursive's upcoming "I Am Gemini." Tim McMahan leads the discussion Tuesday where the album will be available for sale. That's early considering the album's official release date is Feb. 21. The club is bi-monthly.
The next event was supposed to debut last weekend, but the snow pushed it back to this Saturday, Feb. 11. Songs @ Shop is presented by Saddle Creek and Slumber Party Records and is an acoustic, hootenanny-style performance featuring a rotating cast of musicians. On Saturday, you'll hear from Jasong Mountain of Talking Mountain, Andy Cubrich of Family Picnic, Anna McClellan of Howard, Sam Martin of Capgun Coup and "more," or so says the shop's website. Performances start at 3 p.m.
They sound interesting, but I wonder if they'll be a big draw. Will you be checking it out?
Finn performs with his band on Slowdown's front room stage.
With a big snowfall iminent, I wondered how many people would actually show up to see Craig Finn on Friday night. Granted, the snow wasn't supposed to start falling until after the concert would be over, but people in this town kinda freak when they see a few white flakes fall from the sky.
When we arrived at Slowdown at about 8:30, only about 10 people (not including the club's employees) were milling about. I was surprised to see it was a front room show, but it probably would have felt empty in the main room.
As I feared, there were very few people there. But when the frontman of The Hold Steady took the stage more than an hour later, it was very full.
With little grandiosity but lots of applause, Finn took the stage with the band from his solo album, "Clear Heart, Full Eyes."
"Hey Omaha. The last time I was here was in the parking lot outside here on a night much nicer than tonight," Finn said, mentioning this summer's outdoor show at the venue. "These songs - or most of these songs - are off my solo album. Thanks for coming out tonight. Thanks for being a part of it."
To be sure, there wouldn't be any songs by The Hold Steady. Holding an acoustic guitar instead of his usual Les Paul, Finn started into the leadoff track off of his new album, "Apollo Bay."
In an interview, Finn described this music as being much less celebratory than what you'd normally get from The Hold Steady. That's for sure. These songs were more subdued, more singer-songwriter style, but still good. The guys:girls ratio was about on par for a Hold Steady concert, but there was no fist-pumping, fewer people singing and no tallboys raised in the air.
A lot of these songs are about being an adult and dealing with transitioning from your teenage/twentysomething shenanigans to being an adult while still staying true yourself. Of course, nothing changed in your personality: you didn't stop liking whiskey or staying up late with your friends, but you're expected to grow up.
That was pretty well summed up by Finn before he and the band played the song "Rented Room."
"You know when you're in college or you're just out of college - whatever you do - late teens/early twenties and you live in a house with all these roommates? And all these fun things happen. You're drinking, you're carrying on. You have all these inside jokes. It's funny," Finn said. "But when you're 35 and you have a whole bunch of roommates, it's not funny at all. Take it from me."
No, it's not funny, but it still did get some laughs. Finn was a lot more talkative than he usually is and had a lot of good anecdotes like the one above.
He played every song from the album as well as some stuff that didn't make the cut. Some of those songs were the best ones he played, such as "When You're Going To A Show," "Some Guns" and "Sarah, I'm Surrounded." (Check out the full setlist.) Hopefully he releases an EP of extra songs sometime.
Other favorites of mine were "Honolulu Blues" and "No Future," which you can listen to below.
Also of note was opening band Mount Moriah. The North Carolina band was fronted by tiny woman with a big, melodic voice, which was matched up well with their very melodic lead guitar player. I highly recommend you listen to their song "We Don't Need That Much."
After the show, Finn took at seat at the merch table to sign autographs and meet fans. I always like to meet artists I've interviewed in person, so I made my way back there while my friends snagged a booth in the emptying club.
Finn signed merch items, talked to fans and posed for a few photos. He was cool enough to let me bug him for a minute, and sign a vinyl copy of "Clear Heart, Full Eyes" for me. Since he played several songs that weren't on the album, I asked if he had plans to release an EP of those songs. He said he'd really like to, but there were no definite plans.
Finn also mentioned that mentioned how awesome Slowdown is compared to other venues he's played at. I said I think he's the only artist to ever play the front room, main room and outside stage there, and he laughed. He said it's a fantastic venue, especially compared to the place they were at the night before, whih may have been his number one worst place to play at.
I appreciate artists that hang out and talk to fans (and me, too). It takes little effort and it's a memory that people will have for a long time.
Setlist
Apollo Bay
Balcony
Jackson
No Future
When No One's Watching
Some Guns
??
My New Friend Jesus
Sarah, I'm Surrounded
The Man Around Your House
Dudes From St. Paul
When You're Going To A Show
Honolulu Blues
Rented Room
Terrified Eyes
Not Much Left Of Us
Tonight's big show is over at the Slowdown, with The Hold Steady's Craig Finn taking the stage for his solo act. I'm a big Hold Steady fan (no surprises there) and I like his solo album a lot, though it's not really the same. Of course, don't expect to hear any Hold Steady songs tonight. Finn told me about that in this interview.
Also tonight is the kick off of Digital Leather's tour that kicks off tonight with a show at O'Leaver's. Well, the next show isn't until Feb. 9 in Seattle (full schedule here), but the band will travel down the west coast, through the Southwest and to Austin to play at Beerland. I wish I could be in Austin for that one. Cool venue.
Blue Bird plays Lincoln tonight with Cowboy Indian Bear at Zoo Bar and then they hit up Slowdown on Saturday (also with CIB as well as Skypiper and El Valiente). I talked to Blue Bird's Rob Matthews earlier this week about their bid to make it to SXSW this year. You can read all about that (and the band's forthcoming new album) in my column.
Also Saturday is local funk/disco legends Satchel Grande at the Waiting Room.
Sunday is the Super Bowl. If any local bands are playing a show opposite of the Super Bowl, I wish them good luck and the fortitude to perform in front of only a few people.
Normally when Craig Finn steps up to the mic, the crowd raises cups of beer, sings along about characters like Sal Paradise and girls that predict winning horses and belts out lyrics such as “we’re good guys, but we can’t be good every night.”
But Friday night will be different. Finn will be without his celebrator, raucous and literate rock band The Hold Steady and instead will perform songs from his debut solo album, “Clear Heart, Full Eyes.”
The songs are more intimate than anything we’ve heard from The Hold Steady. “Honolulu Blues” mentions a wavering faith in Jesus, how we’re all good and evil and how troubles still follow when you’re trying to get away from it all.
Intimate and personal? Yes. And still rocking without the soaring riffs of The Hold Steady’s Tad Kubler? Definitely.
We called Finn in Brooklyn as he geared up to head to Europe and then strike out on tour in the U.S.
Q. What should fans expect from your new album compared to The Hold Steady?
A. It’s quieter for sure. That’s the first and simplest answer. It’s also a little more narrative. It’s able to be a little more intimate and vulnerable.
With The Hold Steady, there’s high highs and low lows. My writing for that tends to be more cinematic. The solo stuff has more to do with the everyday and the mundane and those human moments.
Also in The Hold Steady, I really don’t write much music, if at all. Rarely do I contribute anything. With this, I come up with everything including lyrics and chords and melodies.
Q. Have you enjoyed doing things a little differently?
A. Yeah. I wouldn’t say they’re bad habits, but there are habits and ways you get of doing things. There’s a level of comfort there. One of the goals for me as an artist was to break out of those. To plug in with some other people and see if I could get somewhere with them.
Q. And you have never worked with this band before?
A. They were people I hadn’t met before. I remember the night before I left, I was really scared. I’m far from an accomplished musician. These guys, I had to shake their hands and then try to make a record with them. I learned a lot from it.
They’re all staring back at you and writing notes down. “This is the song in its most basic form. Where can we go from here? What is everyone hearing?”
It was nerve-wracking. It still was like you’re halfway through the song and you’re thinking, “Do they hate this?”
The producer (Mike McCarthy), he really produced the record in the true sense. He was sort of the leader, and he hand-picked some of the musicians.
Q. How did you end up working with Mike McCarthy?
A. We met through a friend. It must have been 18 months ago. I had a drink with him and he said some things that stuck with me. Also Britt (Daniel) from Spoon, he said a lot of the ways they made some of those Spoon records were very one-on-one.
I called him and talked about what I was thinking and played him some rough demos. I’m not a great musician and he said, “If you can sing me the song over the phone, like if you have a vocal, lyrics and melody, the rest of it can be my problem.” That was a really liberating thing to be said.
Q. Was it weird to be with a whole group of people you’d never worked with before and also to be recording in Austin instead of New York?
A. That was part of the whole concept; tying myself to a new concept and new people. It would have gotten weird if I was hiring people in New York or even Minneapolis. It was nice to separate and plug in down there.
Q. Is it the same band touring that was on the album?
A. Some of them. The touring lineup. I hired all Austin people because, spiritually, they live (in the mind set of these songs).
Q. Obviously, these shows have quite a different feel from what people may be used to seeing with you.
A. It’s more subdued, I’d say. There’s something about The Hold Steady that’s very celebratory. This record is sort of a break from being celebratory. There’s hours in the day where you don’t feel like that. This taps into a different part of my own human nature.
Q. How do you usually write? Do you sit down with a guitar or do you jot in a notebook?
A. It can go a lot of different ways. A lot of times, it’s the first line of the song or a phrase.
With this solo project, I really tried to write every day and write a song every day. I have a friend who wrote for Letterman. He’d say, “I don’t really have time to have writer’s block. We write a show and then we try to make it good.”
You probably know something about this feeling.
I though, “Maybe that’s a new way to approach songwriting.”
So, I started out with a song. A lot of them were terrible. But I gave them time and went back to them and got an idea of what was good and what wasn’t. Maybe the first verse was alright and then I’d build from there.
I liked putting a little more craftsmanship to it and punching the clock every day.
Q. And you recorded a lot of it live, right?
A. Even the vocals were recorded live, which is pretty unique. That’s one thing that I love about it. The musicians were in the room watching me sing. So when I step up to the mic, they back away, even imperceptibly. It’s the kind of thing you don’t get from overdubbing. I like the way it breathes.
Q. Do you think you’d ever do that with The Hold Steady?
A. It definitely makes me think of it. The volume that we operate at may not make that possible. (Laughs)
Q. Have you played much of this stuff live?
A. We just did one in Austin. It’s funny. When I got offstage, I felt like I hadn’t played a show yet — compared to what I’m used to. It’s mellower. I wasn’t tired and I wasn’t sweating and all wet.
Q. Is it tougher to keep people’s attention? It’s gotta feel different.
A. The audience energy is different. No one’s climbing on top of each other and throwing beer. It’s subdued material but it’s also keeping people’s attention. That’s a nice challenge to face. It’s a different one. It’s kind of cool.
Q. Will you be sticking to the solo stuff?
A. We won’t do any Hold Steady songs. We have 15 songs so far and we’ll be picking stuff up along the way. There’s 11 songs that made the record plus four outtakes. I might do a few songs alone without the band. I kind of want to keep things fresh. There’ll be plenty of material.
I don’t think it would feel right to play Hold Steady stuff. That doesn’t feel right to do.
Q. How many songs did you write for this album?
A. I have a lot of song that I wrote. I gave McCarthy 23 songs and he narrowed it down to 14. There’s plenty of songs. There’s more than that even. It’s just a matter of the band picking them up.
And they learn very, very quick.
Q. We’ve talked in past interviews about how you’ve taken up running a lot. Are you able to do it on tour?
A. I do. It’s actually a wonderful thing. It’s become completely necessary. I’ve got one of those iPod things that tells you how long you’ve run. There’s something about setting off on a run and not knowing where you’re going that helps me stay sane and focused and healthy.
I get kind of lethargic if I don’t run a few times a week.
Q. And you’ve talked about doing another Hold Steady record soon. What’s going on with that?
A. We have Steve Selvidge (on guitar) and we’re really committed to writing with him for this record. It takes a little extra planning because he lives out of town, but he’s coming to New York for all of next week.
I’d love to say that we’re in the studio in the end of the spring. I’d like to get back to the U.K. for the solo thing and then it’s back to The Hold Steady.
I’d love to have a record out in 2012. But that’s not always within our grasp. A lot of people have different things to say about that.
Vinyl pressings of "I Am Gemini" were revealed yesterday by Saddle Creek on its Facebook page.
Over at Stereogum, Cursive premiered another new track from its forthcoming album, "I Am Gemini."
You can also download the song, "Wowowow," below by giving Saddle Creek Records your e-mail address. (Did you know that a lot of companies put an actual dollar amount on each e-mail address they have?! As in, "Each e-mail we get is worth $10." You learn all kinds of stuff talking to marketing people.)
The track lurches along like a song from a trippy musical. The best part, of course, is Tim Kasher screaming "Wow, wow, wow!" juxtaposed with the serene vocals of two female singers singing "Without a me/there is no you."
I received my promo copy of "I Am Gemini" yesterday. It's another concept album from Cursive, but I was intrigued and thought it was very cool that the album came with a play book.
I assume it's a copy of the lyrics sheet that will come with the album, but it's laid out like a play with characters, acts, scenes, scene descriptions, character motivation, etc.
It's pretty damn cool.
The section that goes along with "Wowowow" is mostly from the perspective of Pollock, one of the twins at the center of "I Am Gemini's" story.
Saddle Creek is doing pre-orders now, which will ship out on Feb. 7. I'd do the "I Want It All" bundle, which has some awesome swag. The colored vinyl (pictured above) is cool, as is the 10" picture disc. And it's only 50 bucks, which is a steal for all of that stuff.
