Blog — Page 237 of 283

Explosions in the Sky

Jannus Live

St. Petersburg, FL

April 12th, 2017

Explosions in the Sky are a rarity in the day and age of the “right now”, with information at everyone’s finger tips, all the time There seems to be a slight movement away from music that might take a minute to make an impact and breathe life into anticipation. Sometimes anticipation is the thing that makes it exciting….

Explosions in the Sky are masters of this. The Austin, TX band have been doing it for nearly 20 years with mini-symphonies that sit the listener on the edge…. With heaping doses of anticipation. It’s no different in a live setting. The band stopped by the shores of the Gulf on the stage of Jannus Live in the heart of the St Petersburg downtown area on April 12th. The band walked out to at least 500 screaming fans, more than I think they had expected, and played until the curfew made them stop.

For a band with no lead singer, they captivated the attention of the entire crowd moving through their instrumentals as if we were watching a movie, captivating the audience with very little downtime, the music bleeding through as the band switched instruments, turned on pedals, and moved around the stage in a blanket of multi--colored smoke.

They played songs from most of their seven studio records and various soundtracks and compilations, but I believe that didn’t matter, they could have been playing the Brady Bunch theme song and the crowd would have ate it up. Guitarists Mark Smith, Munaf Rayani, and Michael James, stalked in unison on stage, simultaneously telling their story, and summoning demons. The band totally and completely immersed themselves in the audience, I have yet to go to a show where this has happened ad length. It might be for a song or two, but this was the entire set, let alone without a front man to focus on. The absence of that front man allowed the band, and the audience, to connect on a much deeper level. With no narration, the band made the music more personal, telling a different story to each listener.

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Photo by Brian Furman

Drift Magazine

Not sure how you roll but in my world and that of Drift Magazine, coffee inhabits not an unimportant role, which is why Drift  is relevant to my interests.

Its central themes revolve around all things coffee, the people involved with it and their spatial contexts. It sheds light on a coffee drinking city at a moment in time.

The drive to source the best dispensaries is the compass that charts the geography of the cities Drift Magazine covers. 

They accomplish their mission by making the beautifully printed (both ink and paper have a nice quality to it), ad-free Drift Magazinelook more like a coffee table book than a mere periodical.

The target audience for the bi-yearly released Drift is people infatuated with caffeine and a desire to get to know a city through unconventional means with each future issue to be focused on one specific place – by way of the relaxed process of meandering as the name Drift suggests.

The issue at hand focuses on Melbourne, the unofficial home of the flat white, chia seed pudding, and avocado toast, Melbourne has been declared by many of the coffee world as a coffee capital, boasting one of the highest concentrations of coffee shops pax on this planet and its character merits  the intense focus this issue of Drift casts on it.

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Photo from Drift website

Editor note: The original post was updated on April 13, 2017.

Ambrosia Magazine

Ambrosia, the food or drink of the Greek gods which was often depicted as conferring longevitiy or immortality, is closely connected to nectar, both of which where were often used by the semi-legendary author Homer in his poems.

Ambrosia Magazine is a beautifully executed haute culinary food porn magazine. Founded by food writer / A World Worth Eating blogger Adam Goldberg, it publishes two times a year and explores the lighter side of a region’s cuisine through stories, photo essays, and light recipes from its great chefs. The concept behind Ambrosia is that eating greating food and eating healthy does not have to be mutually exclusive: It combines the world great chefs with healthful eating. As no one tells a story as accurately like a local, Ambrosia has the locals tell authentic stories themselves.

Not unlike its coffee focused bother Drift Magazine, each issue is completely dedicated to one region or city, telling the stories from different angles and viewpoints  and providing recipes ranging originated from street food vendors to owners of Michelin star adorned etablisssements.

Volume 3 takes us to Brooklyn, where they eat their way from Williamsburg to Crown Heights and Coney Island, to navigate one of the world’s most influential dining scenes against the backdrop of its storied history. Featuring recipes and stories from Carlo Mirarchi, Claus Meyer, Pamela Yung, and dozens of other chefs, servers, and vendors, this issue tells the story of the Brooklyn brand—and what happens now that the rest of the world is using it too.

The dimensions of Ambrosia Magazine is 120 pages, 7.5 x 9.5 inches and it weights a heft 465g, which gives an idea of the tactile experience the quality paper providers and the emploted varied  printing teachniques provde.

It’s one of those rare magazines and  that will make the bookshelf and whose volumes will be collected to create an encyclopedic geographic library.

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photo from Ambrosia website

Alter Bridge

Enmore Theatre

Sydney, AU

April 4, 2017

After several runs as openers, the Orlando, Florida-based melodic metal outfit toured Alter Bridge returned to Australia on the back of their fifth album, The Last Hero, for a headline tour.

Drawing from a five album catalogue, Alter Bridge delivered their trademark rangeful vocal melodies courtesy of Myles Kennedy, his 6-string duels with three times Guitar Player of the Year Mark Tremonti’s guitar work and boisterous rhythm section comprised of Brian Marshall and Scott Philips, which was enthusiastically received by their energetic, dedicated audience and further sparked by the engaging, likeable and down-to-earth manner that the band, and specifically the showman Myles Kennedy, displayed.

In a live environment Alter Bridge proves that they are a tightly knit unit with chemistry that grows to something bigger than the sum of its individual constituents would suggest:

Kennedy’s vocal performance, which amped the audience to participate and motivated not just a few faithfuls to give it up and sing along at the top of their lungs, was soulful and near pitch perfect, which is not further wondrous given that Kennedy’s kudos include having auditioned to replace Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin and having honed his performance skills fronting Slash’s band in front of big audiences.

Him handling guitar duties spinning an intricate web in tandem with Tremonti’s anthemic riffs packs a hefty punch and gels well with Phillips’ precision drumming and Brian Marshall’s bass.

The near 2-hour affair touched on the highlights of all of their albums with emissions ranging from ballads to all out bangers with both the satisfied audience’s reaction as well as the turnout being testament to the fact that it was time for Alter Bridge to grace down under with their first headlining tour.

Illy

Enmore Theatre

Sydney, AU

April 7, 2017

The Melbourne MC Illy, born Alasdair Murray and former member of the Crooked Eye Crew along with heads like M-Phazes, has been active since 2009 and has established himself firmly in the echelons of the Australian and international hip hop scenes – both as an artist as well as with his record label OneTwo.

Humbled by the warm reception by the sold out crowd, who was eager to sing along throughout his high energy set which catered for everyone by showcasing tracks from the five albums he has under his belt with classics as well as more dance-y newer tracks sprinkled in, Illy instantly got everyone moving and jumping with his fluid vocals and precise rhyming skills, which framed the performance with a bloc party vibe.

Illy’s emissions and live performances do certainly have mass appeal that makes it accessible for a mainstream heavy crowd, yet what makes him a standout is that he strikes a balance and blurs the line between catchy crowd-pleasing feel good songs and showcasing his technical and at times gritty MC skills.

Both on his releases and in a live environment he pushes the envelope of his own signature blend of progressive new-school hip hop comprised of pop (guest vocalists providing radio friendly hooks), EDM (think treated synthesizers galore) and old school staples (laid back flow, easy cadences, story telling and rhyming witticisms), and has thereby created a foundation that he is comfortable and proud of standing on.

What makes him endearing and his music accessible to his varied audience is that contrary to many of his peers he does not rely on braggadocio with outlandish claims about his wealth, strength or other abilities, but musings on his place in life and humbleness when it comes to how lucky he is to have come as far as performing in front of an enthusiastic crowd on a Friday night at the Enmore Theatre.

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Photos by KAVV