Railroad Earth - The Intersection, Grand Rapids, MI (11.6.2010)

I had a conversation with a friend this past weekend about documenting the live music experience and how best to approach it. What do you do when you run out of words to express your cognitive response to music? Discover new ones? Create new ones? I think the question should be less about how to approach the documentation of the experience, and more about how you perceive it when it is happening. You are seeing your favorite band for the 100^th time. Are you picking up on the subtle differences that separate this show from the last, or this era from the last? Are you picking up on the subtle vibrations? The little things that make this particular experience unique? I personally have never approached it with this kind of attention to detail. Or maybe I have and just never realized it. Maybe this is the reason why music makes me feel the need to write. Which begs the question, what are you doing here? What are YOUR reasons for going to see live music? Maybe you like to dance or maybe you just like being with your friends. Maybe you like the way it sounds, or the way it feels in your body. Or maybe it runs deeper than that. Maybe without music, your life lacks substance. Whatever the reason, one thing is for certain; the music is the reason why, that on this particular evening and in this particular place, so many of us gather together… which is a powerful and beautiful thing.

Railroad Earth is one of those magical bands. They walk onto the stage and they just have this presence. This presence that says “we are going to lift you off the ground tonight”. All smiles. You could just feel the energy they were emitting from the stage. As soon as the band got going, I closed my eyes and began to soak it all in. They began with “Carrying Coal to Newcastle” which brought the Celtic sounds that Railroad fans have come to know and love. Tim Carbone has total control over his instrument. Like a wizard, Tim has this air of enlightenment to him. With long, grey hair, his violin speaks words of wisdom and experience. After the opening number, lead vocalist and guitarist Todd Schaeffer steps up and starts belting the words to “Mighty River”. Todd’s voice is difficult to explain. He sings with such charisma. His words seem to roll off his tongue with both power as well as finesse. Todd’s voice serves as a medium through which this music escapes. It is the medium through which his emotions and ideas fall upon the ears of his listeners. “River” was a pure joy and as I would come to realize after the show, it was one of the few songs that I recognized throughout the entire performance. Having just released a brand new album, most of this material was falling upon my ears for the first time.

I had limited time in the photo pit, so I snapped as many shots as I could as I moved from left to right across the front of the stage. Being that close to these musicians was amazing. Their energy was just radiating from the stage and each of them seemed so connected to each other. As John Skehan tore into the strings of his mandolin, I moved in for a closer look. John also has this air of enlightenment to him. With glasses and a long, grey pony-tail pulled back behind his head, John closes his eyes and let’s his instrument begin to take over. The mandolin has such a unique sound with all of these high-pitched notes oozing and soaring out of the instrument’s small body. As the evening progressed, I began to realize how absolutely tasteful each of these musicians were. Often times you see a jam band that has just gone off the deep end with never-ending guitar solos and an over-the-top or an in-your-face type of approach. With Railroad, who I really don’t consider to be a “jam band” by any means, less is more. This band adheres to the structure of the music and really does a great job keeping everything in perspective. Todd Schaeffer’s songwriting is the focus here… not the UNGODLY skill of each and every one of the musicians on stage. And I think that is one thing that separates them from other bands. Often times with musicians of this caliber, you can feel their eagerness to take off on some mind-blowing solo as if the band or the music revolves around them. With Railroad, instrumentation comes with timing and precision. If the song lends itself to more of an exploratory or improvisational structure, than the band lets the music evolve that way. But if the song was meant to be a series of structured sections, i.e., a collection of verses and choruses for example, than that’s as far as it will go. The result is a focused and tasteful blend of music and words that are crafted so beautifully that it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up. Sonically perfect. There isn’t much more that needs to be said about this band, about this performance. Railroad Earth gave me one of those natural music highs that have become the reason why I am unable to resist live music. Sonically perfect.

Zoogma, Papadosio - The Intersection, Grand Rapids, MI (10.20.2010)

Shows have been few and far between for me lately so when I found out that Papadosio was going to be conveniently playing The Intersection in Grand Rapids, MI (right down the street from my place of work), I was definitely pumped. I met up with a buddy of mine and we grabbed a few beers before heading over to the venue. When we got there it was pretty empty, granted we were also pretty early. The first band on the billing, whose name I somehow never caught, seemed to be jamming with quite a bit of enthusiasm. There was a guy in the middle of the stage playing a mandolin, which I found to be a little out of place for the type of Jamtronic music that was being produced.

After being somewhat under-whelmed by the first band, it was Zoogma’s turn to take the stage. I’m not so sure that The Intersection was entirely prepared for the musical machine that is Zoogma. With seemingly never-ending instrumental sections, these guys took the term Jamtronica to a whole new level. Waves of sonic fusion bombarded my ears and penetrated my head with a heavy, rhythmic foundation and a highly infectious and danceable blend of synth, guitar, and bass lines. It was difficult to determine where these “songs” started and finished but I am pretty confident that offering their listeners some sort of structured “song” was not the focus of these 5 musicians. The aim of this music was to send you deep into a hypnotic, mesmerizing trance that was impossible to pull yourself out of. Aiding in these efforts was an absolutely mind-blowing light show. Shades of every color in the rainbow came spinning out of these perfectly placed light sources that seemed to transition incredibly with the sounds of the band. It really set the tone for both the intensity as well as the energy level of the music that was playing at any given moment. Armed with a plethora of digital tools and computers, each one of these Zoogmites were highly skilled musicians in their own right. Noticeable standouts in my mind were guitarists Justin Hastings, who seemed to be in charge of a good portion of the improvisational guitar work, as well as Brock Bowling who only served to compliment the flighty sound of his incredibly talented band mate. Preston Boutot was another key player who offered an incredible span of keyboard and synth textures that really seemed to control the mood of this jam-infused sound. Abound with highs and lows, Zoogma delivered a roller-coaster ride of electronically oriented jam music that flooded my body with a range of different feelings. One minute I would be lost in a heavy trance and the next, my head spinning out of control with some spaced out, psychedelic improvisation. When it was all said and done, I was thoroughly exhausted. These guys absolutely tore it up and although it often seemed as if they were about to overheat, they always gravitated back down to a comfortable and acoustically pleasing level.

When Papadosio finally hit the stage around 12:30am, the majority of the crowd seemed to have filtered in. My only prior exposure to this Asheville based band was this past summer at the Summer Camp Festival. It was the middle of the day on the worst stage at the festival and I remember thinking how stellar of a night show this band would have delivered on one of the bigger stages. Well The Intersection definitely had bigger stage accommodations, a bigger crowd, and a suitable environment for a quality light show. I was somewhat annoyed with how late this headlining band was taking the stage. Listening to music like this can sometimes be a bit overwhelming and I could already sense that I didn’t have the endurance to ride this one out to the end. Sporting his signature dreads and facial hair, guitarists/keyboardist/mad scientist Anthony Thogmartin began pumping out the jams that seemed to send this googoly-eyed crowd into a dance frenzy. At times, this band had a bit of a more textured and ambient sound than Zoogma and I was able to pick up on the subtle differences that separated these two groups, even though each of them were both obviously adhering to a very specific brand of music. For the next hour or so that we choose to remain at The Intersection, Papadosio brought the heat. Sometimes it was dialed down to a simmer, only to be cranked up to the highest possible setting so that the coils were glowing a furious red. I was thoroughly enjoying this music… this jam style of electronic music that was just pulsating with these deep, vibratory waves of sound. Had I stuck this show out until the end, I might feel differently about this next statement, but I honestly think Zoogma was on a heat-seeking mission to upstage the headliner on this particular night. Both impressed the hell out of me, but the Zoogma machine and its assault of high-powered improvisational guitar work had me hooked. When it was all said and done, I walked away from The Intersection with a minor headache, a tired mind, and a more than satisfactory live music fix. I for one, loved it. But these bands, this genre... they are for pure, open-minded music fans only. Not for the faint of heart.

Atmosphere - The Intersection, Grand Rapids, MI (9.12.2010)

It’s been three weeks since I went to see Atmosphere at The Intersection in Grand Rapids so I will keep this succinct. I don’t like to let that much time pass between experiencing a show and then writing about it… I like to write when it’s fresh. But trying to balance a job in the restaurant industry with finding the time to go to shows (much less write about them) is not always easy… the two of them sort of slide against the grain. Regardless, I had gotten my morning shift out of the way the day that Atmosphere was coming to town so I met up with my sister and my brother-in-law downtown and we headed towards the venue. Naturally, we were sucked in by the vacuum-like force that is Founder’s Brewery so we decided not to fight it and stopped in for a couple of tasty ales.

When we finally made it to The Intersection, the lights had dropped and Sean ‘Slug’ Daley was taking the stage. I couldn’t believe how packed this place was. I can honestly say that in all of the years that I have been going to The Intersection (since High School!), I have never seen it that crowded. Rumor has it the show was sold out. Apparently, despite having listened to Sean for probably 6 years now, I have been asleep while the Atmosphere name has been absolutely blowing up. I’m glad for Sean, though, he definitely deserves the recognition. With his faithful DJ, Ant, behind the turntables as well as a keyboardist and guitarist, Daley began rhyming with the graceful, smooth, and confident style that Atmosphere fans have come to know and love.

A few songs in, Sean broke into a raucous version of “Trying to Find a Balance” that had the entire crowd bouncing up and down to the beat and throwing back their hands. I was impressed with the number of people in attendance that seemed to be keen to his older material. Not only that, but I was equally impressed with Sean’s attitude towards performing his old material. He had sort of a I’m going to sing this shit whether you like it or not because this is where I came from and this is who I am sort of an attitude. Keeping in mind that I haven’t been to very many hip-hop shows, I did notice that Sean wasn’t using any tricks or gimmicks to make himself sound any different than exactly what he sounds like. Often times rappers use backing tracks when they perform live so that they are able to fall back on recorded vocals if they need to take a breather or can’t keep up. Not Sean. And in my honest opinion, if you are writing a song that has lines in it that are too long to spit in one breath, than you shouldn’t have written it in the first place. None of this backing track garbage. Sean steps up and murders his vocals (in the best possible way) and raps so spot on to Ant’s beats that it blows me away. With speed and fluidity, Daley rhymed to classic tunes like “God Loves Ugly” as well as some of his newer and even newest material off of the double EP release “To All My Friends, Blood Makes the Blade Holy”. Sean is back at it with his latest release, rapping heartfelt and honest songs about women, his ongoing struggle with drugs and alcohol, and about… well, women mostly. With “Always Coming Back home to You” towards the end of the set, I was officially psyched about this Atmosphere show. Sporting a Minnesota baseball cap, Sean was never shy about his allegiance to the Midwest and the sold out Grand Rapids crowd was just eating it up. By the time he was finished, I was eating it up too. The band had been spot on and Atmosphere means serious, serious business.