W♥M

The Fresh & Onlys at Triple Rock, Minneapolis (15 Jul 2014)

Fresh & Onlys Setlist Summer of Love Waterfall Home Is Where? Who Let the Devil Bells of Paonia Animal of One I'm Awake Hummingbird April Fools Ballerina Candy Madness -- Encore -- Fog Machine Euphoria Foolish Person Peacock and Wing AgesandAges Setlist Shilohs Setlist Tour Dates 07/16 Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle 07/17 Detroit, MI – The Loving Touch 07/18 Toronto, ON – Horseshoe Tavern 07/19 Montreal, QC – La Vitrola 07/20 Burlington VT - Monkey House 07/21 Boston, MA – Great Scott 07/22 Philadelphia, PA – Boot & Saddle 07/23 Brooklyn, NY – Glasslands 07/24 Washington, DC - DC9 07/25 Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506 07/26 Atlanta, GA – 529 07/28 St. Louis, MO - The Demo 07/29 Kansas City, MO – Czar Bar 07/31 Denver, CO – Hi Dive Read More Fresh & Onlys I missed The Fresh and Onlys the last time they played in Minnesota, due to scheduling conflicts, so I'm making it up by seeing them finally this Tuesday at the Triple Rock Social Club. … Ages and Ages They did manage to fit all seven band members of AgesandAges on stage at the tiny 7th Street Entry. I was kind of impressed, no one got hurt. … The Shilohs Opening up for the band is Vancouver's The Shilohs, who are touring in support of their self-titled sophomore album, out now on Light Organ Records. …

"Come closer to the front. Let's do drugs," said The Fresh & Onlys lead singer Tim Cohen before the start of their gig at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis, last night, July 15th.

The Shilohs

Typically there are three bands on the bill for the Triple Rock, starting with Vancouver's The Shilohs. Although Canadians, the band is influenced by Middle American rock, particularly R.E.M. (Athens), Big Star (Memphis) and the Replacements (Minneapolis)... so you can see that the band was really excited to play in Minneapolis.

With the exception of the drummer, everyone sings lead vocals in the band. They played a couple of tracks from their latest self-titled album ("Palm Readers" and "Queen Light Queen Dark"), which is out now on Light Organ Records.

The rest of their set seems to be taken from debut album So Wild, but written in shorthand. Also, right before their final song "The Place Where Nobody Knows I Go", they took a Polaroid photo of the audience and commented that they had to do this for every gig... I guess to showcase the places that no one knew they went to...

Ages and Ages

Almost all, if not all, of Ages and Ages' songs requires handclapping, that's an indication of how I feel about Ages and Ages (previously stylized as Agesandages). We last saw the seven-piece (now six-piece) in 2011, opening up for Lake. I was rather impressed with their big sound and described them as "upbeat, catchy, happy, and melodic."

This time around, the Portland band is touring towards Newport Folk Festival, supporting their sophomore album Divisionary, out now on Partisan Records. New tracks (at least live) sounded fantastic, including their big a cappella style song "Divisionary (Do The Right Thing)," which closed out their set.

Fresh & Onlys

The Fresh & Onlys are a garage/pastoral psychedelic rock band consisting of singer Tim Cohen (of Black Fiction), bassist Shayde Sartin, guitarist Wymond Miles (sporting one of the biggest hair I've ever seen), and drummer Kyle Gibson.

The San Francisco band is currently signed to Mexican Summer, since their release of 2012's Long Slow Dance. Their latest release is called House of Spirits, which is out now.

Setlist

If you love the new album, this is definitely the tour to catch them on as they played their entire album, start to finish, live. As Cohen explained, "So when you bring the record home, you are not going to be surprise."

Taking a look at their written setlist, they left off a few tracks, but according to my notes, they played all of the songs, including "Candy" and finale "Madness."

When they stepped off, the venue started playing the house music (which indicates that the show was over) and a few people started walking out. Apparently there was some sort of miscommunication as the band returned for a four-track encore: "Fog Machine," "Euphoria," "Foolish Person," and "Peacock and Wing."

If you cannot wait to hear every track off House of Spirits played live, go see The Fresh & Onlys on this current tour.

The Fresh & Onlys at Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis (15 Jul 2014)

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Lake and AgesandAges at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (05/10/11)

  The sky darkened, welcoming Olympia's Lake and
  Portland's AgesandAges to Minneapolis, last night, May 10^th.

Tour Dates 05/13/11 Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver BC 05/14/11 Northern, Olympia WA 05/15/11 The Tractor Tavern, Seattle WA 08/05/11 Pickathon, Portland OR Read More AgesandAges AgesandAges' debut album is called Alright You Restless on Knitting Factory Records. They are currently on tour to promote it, and tomorrow will be in town with K Records' Lake.

RYAN PAUL AND THE ARDENT

Opening up for them was Ryan Paul and the Ardent, a local band, and from their biography they aren't afraid to mention that Ryan Paul was lost "in a haze of drug and alcohol addiction". But he seems all sorted out now, sober and focus. However, seems a little amateurish when band members argued about the setlist order.

Ryan Paul and the Ardent's songs seems to be about singer Ryan Paul's struggles of the heart ("Nothing Can Destroy") and loneliness ("Meet Me Where I Am"). The highlight of the show was a cover of The Ramones' "The KKK Took My Baby Away".

AGESANDAGES

They did manage to fit all seven band members of AgesandAges on stage at the tiny 7^th Street Entry. I was kind of impressed, no one got hurt. I actually didn't know what to expect from AgesandAges, but they did sound upbeat, catchy, happy, and melodic like I'm From Barcelona, but minus the extra 32 band members.

The title track, "Alright, You Restless" was dedicated to a "dry and boring professor", and you quickly realize their protest when they sing "but that won't happen to us". Of course, lots of hand-clapping are involved.

I don't have their album, Alright, You Restless, but from what I heard live, it sounded great.

Lake's new album is called Giving & Receiving, and I did manage to give it a listen to before I saw them to get an idea of what they'll sound like live. I'll admit, I was expecting a pretty mellow show. It does have things I like, the boys/girls vocals and brief pop songs.

One thing I've noticed is that the band members play musical chairs and switches between keys and drums and bass, etc. Their songs has a tendency to point to the heavens ("Distant Stars", "The Stars", etc), so it seems natural that Lindsay asked what those clouds in the sky over Minneapolis were called. Someone in the audience said "mammatus". Luckily, I did manage to take some pictures of the mammatus clouds prior to the show, which I'm using in this article as the title header.

As much as I liked the Ashley songs, I thought "Skeleton Costume" was the best song live. The melodies reminded me of "Lean On Me".

Most of the songs performed last night are from their latest album, Giving & Receiving, out now on K Records.

LAKE

XAVIER RUDD

BONUS: So, last night, there was a lot of noise coming in from the main room, First Avenue. I did sneak in to see what all the ruckus was about.

Apparently, Xavier Rudd, from Australia was playing to a very full house. Judging from his audience, they are the free-spirited, earth-friendly, hippies-type (the last crusty band I saw for State Radio, there was also a massive turnout).

He spent the last four songs of his set sitting down, playing these funky instruments and drums. I didn't know any of the songs, but the last song was done in acapella and seems to be about the Aboriginal, with lyrics like frozen earth, hunting ground, and the future we hold in our hands. He held up a boomerang, which I honestly thought he was going to throw it into the audience (but wouldn't it just go back to him?) He did no such thing, apparently the boomerang meant something special to him. He held it close to his chest and left the stage.

vu () ♥ laketheband.com ♥ agesandages.com ♥ ryanpaulandtheardent.com

Ages and Kids

AGESANDAGES
agesandages.com

AgesandAges' debut album is called Alright You Restless on Knitting Factory Records. They are currently on tour to promote it, and tomorrow will be in town with K Records' Lake. They are playing the 7^th Street Entry, and what I want to know is: is there enough room for all seven band members to be on stage??!!?? 7^th has a tiny, tiny stage. The whole venue is a size of an extra large closet.

The band's songwriter and founder, Tim Perry, described his songs as "I thought of these songs like folk hymnals, sung by a 'congregation' who is affirming and reaffirming their own collective vision: that life is better here under the radar. I think of it kind of like propaganda rock. They will never understand you. But we understand each other."

Below is what's left of their tour dates:

Mon 05/09/11 Cactus Club, Milwaukee WI *
Tue 05/10/11 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis MN *
Fri 05/13/11 Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver BC *
Sat 05/14/11 Northern, Olympia WA *
Sun 05/15/11 The Tractor Tavern, Seattle WA *
Fri 08/05/11 Pickathon, Portland OR

* with Lake

Milk Carton Kids: As It Must Be

MILK CARTON KIDS
www.themilkcartonkids.com

The Milk Carton Kids is a duo: Kenneth Pattengale & Joey Ryan. They are described as minimalist, so I am assuming it's acoustic and lyrical. They are coming here to my favorite venue, The Varsity Theater on May 16^th with Joe Purdy (who was the first W♥M freebies).

Their recently released album is called Retrospect, a live album, just released March 15^th. However, if you look at the cover artwork, it is intentionally released under the name "Kenneth Pattengale & Joey Ryan". The first official release of The Milk Carton Kids will be called Prologue, to be released sometime in 2011.

According to both artists' website (kennethpattengale.com and joeyryan.net), you can download Retrospect for free. I did download it, but have not had a chance to check it out.

Looking at both musicians' website, they sure have a pretty impressive discography between them.

May 9 – Neurolux - Boise, ID May 10 – State Room – Salt Lake City, UT May 12 – Bluebird Theater – Denver, CO May 14 – Bottleneck – Lawrence, KS May 15 – Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA May 16 – Varsity Theater – Minneapolis, MN May 17 – Turner Hall - Milwaukee, WI May 18 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL May 19 – Off Broadway – St. Louis, MO June 8 – Mercy Lounge – Nashville, TN June 9 – WorkPlay – Birmingham, AL June 10 – The Loft – Atlanta, GA June 11 – Grey Edge – Asheville, NC June 12 – Cat’s Cradle – Carborro, NC		June 14 – Ram’s Head – Annapolis, MD June 15 – World Cafe Live – Philadelphia, PA June 16 – Highline Ballroom – New York City, NY June 17 – Stage One – Fairfield, CT June 20 – Iron Horse – Northampton, MA June 21 – Brighton Music Hall – Allston, MA June 22 – Narrows Center – Fall River, MA June 23 – Higher Ground – Burlington, VT June 25 – Petit Campus – Montreal, QC June 26 - Horseshoe Tavern – Toronto, ONT June 27 – Rex Theater – Pittsburg, PA June 28 – Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH June 30 – Westscott Theater – Syracuse, NY On tour with Joe Purdy

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com