A conversation with Omar Rodriguez Lopez (25-10-12)

Omar RodriguezLopez is one of the ‘greatest guitarist of all time’ according to Rolling Stone Magazine. He has produced more than 40 albums in a decade and a half and he is behind some iconic bands such as ‘At the Drive-in’ and ‘The Mars Volta’. He also runs his own record company ‘Rodriguez Lopez Productions’.

Juan J. Cruz, Editor, had the opportunity to interview him and talk about his music a few days ago. Have a read to find out more (just click on 'read more' below).

Omar Rodriguez Lopez at the East Brunswick Club, Melbourne (2011).

Willy Mason

A few weeks ago I didn´t know much about Willy Mason. I had just read by chance a review in Pitchfork and there were two pieces of information that I had found quite intriguing.

The first one was he being discovered by one of Bright Eyes’ band members and consequently being signed up to Conor Oberst record company for his debut album, when he was just nineteen.

The second one was Pitchfork giving a bad review and a low rating to his latest release -nothing alarming to be honest-, where they made reference to some other –presumably less prestigious- publication that, in the reviewer´s opinion, made the mistake of comparing him -how dare!- to Leonard Cohen.

I have to partly agree with this: he wasn´t Leonard Cohen, but his work is well (!) worth a listen. 

With accumulated experience after years opening for a lot of big acts (Norah Jones, Bright Eyes and the like), Willy Mason was looking confortable both in his suit and into his own skin standing in the middle of the tiny stage of the Toff. He brought along a couple of support musicians to make things look fancier and make everyone feel there was a bigger show going on.

I was familiar with the songs and I liked how they really had an nice subtle live component. A few times, the glamour dimmed a litlle bit, but overall it kept up with my highest expectations: it was worth it and I hope there will be a lot of good things happening for Willy over the next few years. 

I am really looking forward to see him growing a bit more into his own style. If this happens and he starts releasing more regularly, I will not be surprised if we hear lots of great things about Willy Mason by next year.

The opening act, Haydn Calnin, was quite good by the way. There is definitely a lot of young talent in Melbourne too…

Clubfeet!

I am rescuing Clubfeet from the Archive. They are a synth-pop band based in Melbourne and they were opening for Alpine in September at the Corner Hotel.

I had fun and it seems everybody around me was having a great time dancing away. I have to say it made me think back of really good times. It never look so cool to be a DJ!

I already know I am going to be listening to this tomorrow in the office. Thanks for reading.

Little Hurricane (... and free drinks!)

Little Hurricane (San Diego, California) was the lucky band playing at the Spotify Launch Party at Ding-Dong just before  Parklife. For being just two people, they make a pretty good noise, and when I say ‘good’ I mean it: a good old dirty blues that sounds classy and energetic at the same time.

Drinks were free and some exotic fruity Strongbow (or Bulmers, the same thing) was the sponsored drink of the night. Lucky enough, we later found out that most spirits were also free, so I couldn´t complain.

Other awesome bands that have a similar ratios sound quality/number of members are the Parisian DJs Daft Punk, the Canadians Death from above 1979, New Yorkers Matt&Kim, English fellows the Subways  and Detroit band the White Stripes (that´s the jack White that you can see touring these days).

And I took all the photos with the same prime lens!

Parklife - Part II

Parklife Melbourne was heaps of fun.

The organisation was okay and the toilets were not too bad -nor too many, unfortunately-. Drinks were not cheap : 12 bucks for a beer and 6 bucks for a bottle of Coke that I pretty much had to scull it since they won´t give me the lid -as if I was going to throw it to the stage after paying that much-. I was surprised to see that a fair bit of the attendants were avoiding the crowds and just dancing on the grass areas. And the seagulls didn´t mind the weather either and came to hang out around the food area too, he!

Sound-wise the festival was quite decent. The highlight of the night was Justice, who played a few classics (cos we are your friends!). And the Presets closed the night with a pretty good performance. They didn´t come across as great entertainers on the stage, though. I had to miss Tame Impala since around that time it became more and more difficult to move between stages, but other than that there were no major issues on the day..

It was a long day, but it was a good day.

Thanks for reading.

Photos Below:  Rizzle Kicks, Chiddy Bang, Citizens!, Justice, Plan B, Nero, The Presets

Parklife - Part I

Sneaky preview of the lovely Parklife crowd. Check for more photos on our Facebook page over the next few days.

It was a lot of fun. Thanks everyone!