Artist Review (Forecastle Preview Edition): Bassnectar

For the past decade, Bassnectar (Lorin Ashton) has been creating many unique, electronic tunes. With a  freeform electronic and dubstep sound, Bassnectar is best known for his live performances, light shows, and community engagement. With 8 different LP's along with many remixes of other artist songs, Bassnectar is releasing his ninth album titled VaVa Voom on Tuesday, April 10th and with any successful live DJ there is a 2012 VaVa Voom tour this spring and summer. Luckily, for the people of Ohio Valley, his tour comes to Louisville at the beginning of Forecastle weekend and he will be headlining the Friday lineup.

For anyone who has never heard Bassnectar's music, it has very heavily electronic bass with many unique sounds mixed together. While I don't feel like his music is best for casual listening, it is fun music as there is a lot of energy and would be great to hear at one of his live shows.

Ashton's main musical influence comes from heavy metal and grunge bands such as Nirvana, Megadeath, and Metallica and it shows in his music. He has been creating genre-mixing music since the early 90's and has gained popularity through his live shows with music that consist of heavy tempos, lots of play with double time and half time and using electronic methods to embellish and reinforce other styles of music. Since 2009, he has been doing live shows constantly and has appeared at many music festivals and sold out shows around the world.

Bassnectar is also an active proponent of creativity, discussion, thoughtfulness, communication, health, education, safety, interaction, and critical thinking, and has fostered a community through his online discussion forum based around these principles. He has openly advocated for causes such as free press and true media, net neutrality, ending corporate personhood, public knowledge, and the non-profit organization Conscious Alliance.

Be sure to stay around for Bassnectar the Friday night of Forecastle weekend, as I am sure no one will want to miss his crazy ass live show.

Boombox - Bassnectar

The Churn Of The Century - Bassnectar

West Coast Lo-Fi Rides Again - Bassnectar

Upside Down - Bassnectar

Plugged In (Remix) - Bassnectar

Voodoo - Bassnectar

Artist Review (Forecastle Preview Edition): Ben Sollee

Kentucky native Ben Sollee will be gracing the stage at Forecastle this year for the first time. Sollee is best known for his unique "genre-bending" cello style that blends classical sounds with folk, bluegrass, R&B, jazz, blues, and rock. His positive perspective on life shows in his music and lyrics.

Sollee started playing the cello in elementary school and fell in love with the classical instrument because of its many different sounds. His first musical influence (besides classical) was jazz and blues, listening to musicians such as Billie Holiday, Otis Redding, and Ray Charles. He later got into folk music and his influence from both genres shows in his songs.

In 2005 Sollee joined legendary banjo player Bela Fleck and formed The Sparrow Quartet with other musicians, making big strides in his music career. After recording the group's first LP, Sollee debuted Learning to Bend, recorded with multiple musicians for different songs. Learning to Bend had great, upbeat songs with wonderful lyrics and soon became a huge success, allowing Sollee to become well-known throughout the folk music world.

In 2010 Sollee recorded an album with Kentucky local Daniel Martin Moore titled Dear Companion, which was produced by another Kentucky native, Jim James, of My Morning Jacket. After the release of the album the trio toured together to promote the issue of mountaintop removal in the Appalachian mountains. As the three are very close, one can only hope for guest appearances during this year's Forecastle performance.

Following his success, Sollee has done many tours with his band which features Jordan Ellis (percussion) and Emily Hagihara (vocals and fiddle). The tour that gets a lot of attention is his "Ditch the Van Tour" in which he and his band travel only on bicycles with their instruments, which he has been doing since 2009. Ben Sollee released his second LP in 2011 titled Inclusions. 

Be sure to check out Ben Sollee and his talented band the Sunday of Forecastle. His heartfelt music will leave you feeling happy with a positive outlook on life.

How to See The Sun Rise - Ben Sollee

It's Not Impossible - Ben Sollee (feat. Bela Fleck)

A Change is Gonna Come - Ben Sollee

The Globe - Ben Sollee

Hurting - Ben Sollee

Huddle On The Roof - Ben Sollee

Artist Review (Forecastle Preview Edition): Galactic

With all the great bands set to play at Forecastle in Louisville, KY this summer, one band that I am looking forward to seeing is a New Orleans-based funk/jazz band Galactic.

Their music has a lot of energy with roots of Cajun music mixed with many other genres, such as, hip hop, electronic, world music, rock, blues, and jazz. Many songs feature contributions from artists of various genres, giving Galactic an even more unique sound.

Galactic has been around since 1994, having released nine LP's since that time along with live albums and music on various soundtracks. However, I only started listening to Galactic in college when I got a hold of Ya-Ka-May in 2010 while working at WRFL 88.1 FM. They released another album just after Mardi Gras this year titled Carnivale Electronics. The album has a lot of Cajun and funk influences, which makes listening quite enjoyable. The band has a lot of passion and energy in their music and that energy is sure to carry over into their live performances. Galactic consist of 5 regular members, Robert Mercurio, Jeff Raines, Richard Vogel, Stanton Moore, and Ben Ellman, however, I can see them inviting many other artist to play with them during their performance at Forecastle.

I couldn't think of a better place than to see this band perform than outside on a warm, summer day. Galactic is scheduled to play on Saturday and I will be there ready to dance to some great tunes. You should join!

Heart of Steel - Galactic

Cineramascope - Galactic

Dark Warter - Galactic

Voyage Ton Flag - Galactic

Hey Na Na - Galactic

Carnival Time - Galactic

Concert Recap: Dr. Dog

The best thing about going to a live show is hearing a band play that one song you thought they picked just for you. Dr. Dog did just that for me several times at Headliners in Louisville, Ky. Their set list consisted of many great tunes from their discography, past and present, and it felt like they knew what songs I personally wanted to hear.

My friends and I were fortunate to purchase our tickets beforehand, as tickets sold out 30 minutes before the opening band even started (a surefire sign Dr. Dog is becoming quite popular). The opening band, Purling Hiss, was not the kind of band I was expecting to open for Dr. Dog. They were talented musicians, however, I was not impressed by the genre. The lyrics were poorly written and relied too much on heavy, shredding guitars in each of their songs. I was releived when they were done and people started setting up the stage for Dr. Dog, which was a pretty interesting setup.

The crew rolled out a stage setup that reminded me of a high school play: a bedroom wall with interesting posters, a fake Siberian tiger head, and a window with stars and a waning crescent moon in it. I loved the setup from the moment I saw it and the crowd began to get excited about what was soon to come. I knew then that it was going to be a great show. 

Dr. Dog started the show off with a fantastic song, "That Old Black Hole", from their new album, Be The Void. However, they only played new songs occasionally, going back to their older albums and pulling out great songs like, "The Breeze", "The Rabbit, The Bat & The Reindeer", "Shadow People", "From", and "I Only Wear Blue". While I wish they would have gone back a bit further and played songs like "Ain't It Strage" or "The World May Never Know", it was great to hear the songs they chose. They also picked great new songs such as, "These Days", "Heavy Lights", and "Do The Trick". However, my favorite song ("How Long Must I Wait") off of Be The Void was not played, leaving a small void in my concert experience.

Although they didn't play "How Long Must I Wait", I consider the show a great success and I left feeling very satisfied. Dr. Dog has such great songs to sing and dance to live that anyone who sees them live will have a great time. I met up with a friend of mine who had only heard their new album, however, he loved listening to all their songs and he danced along with me, enjoying their old tunes as much as me. So, next time you have a chance to see Dr. Dog live, take anyone who enjoys good live music and loves to dance--you will not be disappointed. They will be back in Louisville at Forecastle Music Festival in July!

Forecastle Music Festival 2012 Lineup

For people living in central Kentucky and southern Indiana, Forecastle is the closest and best music festival in the area. Over the past decade, in the heart of Louisville, Forecastle has become one of the best outdoor festivals in the country and to celebrate its 10 year anniversary, one of Louisville's most successful bands, My Morning Jacket, will be headlining and collaborating the festival's lineup.

Yesterday the lineup was released with many great bands set to play at the festival, headlining each night will be Bassnectar (Friday), My Morning Jacket (Saturday), and Wilco (Sunday). The rest of bands are a great mix of popular alternative Pop/Rock (Sleigh Bells, Beach House, Atlas Sounds, Andrew Bird, Dr. Dog, Deer Tick, etc.), Folk/ Classic Country (Ben Sollee, Justin Townes Earle, The Head and The Heart), Techno/ Electronic (Girl Talk, Washed Out, Flying Lotuc, etc.), Blues/ Soul (Galactic, Stax! Soul Revue, Charles Bradley), Heavy Metal (Clutch) and Rap (Atmosphere).

Here is the complete list...

There are currently 3 Day tickets available for $144.50 (soon to be $159.50).

Single day tickets for $49.50 will go on sale this Friday (March 2nd).

VIP 3 Day tickets and 1 Day tickets are available as well ($350.00 and $150.00).






















I plan on writing up on some of the bands playing at the festival over the next few months, so stand by for some in-depth reviews on bands you may not know about but might be interested in seeing at the festival this year.

I hope everyone who wants to make it out to Louisville, Ky July 13-15th for this fantastic festival gets a chance.