Thundercat to Tour in Early 2020

Thundercat is hitting the road in early 2020 with his largest tour yet as he plays theaters coast to coast of North America. 

He and his two band mates (keyboardist Dennis Hamm and drummer Justin Brown) delivered RtBE's favorite live show for 2019 so we can certainly vouch for this one and hope to catch him again when he plays Webster Hall in NYC this upcoming March. 

Full dates and some video below to get pumped for this tour.

Thundercat 2020 tour dates:

02/28/20 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre

02/29/20 – Portland, OR – PDX Jazz Festival

03/01/20 – Seattle, WA – Showbox SoDo

03/03/20 – Arcata, CA – Van Duzer Theatre

03/04/20 – Chico, CA – Senator Theatre

03/06/20 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater

03/07/20 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern

03/08/20 – Santa Ana, CA – Observatory

03/10/20 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren

03/12/20 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre

03/13/20 – Omaha, NE – Slowdown

03/14/20 – Minneapolis, MN – The Fillmore

03/15/20 – Chicago, IL – Riviera Theatre

03/17/20 – Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre

03/18/19 – Toronto, ON – Queen Elizabeth Theatre

03/19/20 – Montreal, QC – Corona Theatre

03/21/20 – Boston, MA – House of Blues

03/22/20 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore

03/24/20 – New York, NY – Webster Hall

03/28/20 – Silver Springs, MD – The Fillmore Silver Springs

03/29/20 – Knoxville, TN – Big Ears Festival

03/31/20 – Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works

04/01/20 – Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel

04/02/20 – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse

04/04/20 – New Orleans, LA – The Joy Theater

04/05/20 – Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall

04/06/20 – Dallas, TX – House of Blues Dallas

Full Show Friday: Billy Strings Live Echo Sessions 2017

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's. These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Billy Strings!

A fast rising jamgrass artist, who we reviewed for Glide earlier this year. Billy and his band are super talented. Here they are from a few years ago on the Echo Sessions.  Pro Shot Pro Sound, Enjoy:

Album Review: Sunn 0))) - Pyroclasts

Sunn 0)))

Pyroclasts

** out of *****

The two piece drone demons Sunn 0))) second album of 2019, Pyroclasts is a (slightly) different rumbling beast from it's predecessor Life Metal. While recorded at the same sessions with the same guests and producer, Pyroclasts is more meditative in its sonic screeches and droning feedback, and in the end less engaging.

The twin rumble bums Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley enlisted help from T.O.S. Nieuwenhuizen (Moog Rogue) Hildur Guðnadóttir (Electric Cello, Halldorophone) Tim Midyett (Electric Baritone Guitar) and were recorded my Steve Albini for Life Metal. At the end of those sessions they tried a twelve minute timed modal drone improvisation as musical meditation with the stated goal to "To connect/reconnect, liberate the creative mind a bit and greet each other and the space through the practice of sound immersion."

Four of those experiments are presented here, just under twelve minutes each, and each stays on one note playing with the octaves and very minimal variations. "FROST (C)" hums and buzzes to pen things with a twelve minute constant wall of sound while "KINGDOM (G)" starts more subtle with open space before instrumentation and white noise increases slowly over it's run time.

"AMPLIPHÆDIES (E)" is the most interesting tune here with scratches and angular blips and feedback cutting in and out over it's time while "ASCENSION (A)" ebbs and flows the most but also is the most off putting with high pitched wails. 

As mentioned with every Sunn0))) review we write, this isn't for everyone, and the droning can be both meditative and off putting. If you are new to the band, Pyroclasts wouldn't be a recommended place to start with the band as there is little movement from start to finish.
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Support the artists, buy the album, stream it on bandcamp or below and peep some video:

Year In Review 2019 - Favorite Live Show

The live show is a slippery thing. There are lots of variables at play, most having little to do with the performance itself. Does the venue have enough bathrooms? Is it going to rain? What day of the week is it on? Did I have a shitty day at work before hand? Did tickets cost waaay too much? All of this effects one's opinion of a live show before the band even tunes up and with reason, but when the stars align, there is no place RtBE would rather be than in the moment of magic occurring spontaneously from the stage.

Live Music Has No Equal!

Taken By The Fantastic Megan Donohue

While obviously we can't see every show that is out there, we try to get out often to catch live music. Sure there are a few left in the calendar year, but for now, here is a listing of the best concerts we were fortunate enough to have caught in 2019.

There are links to show reviews in the titles, also because who doesn't love arbitrary rankings, one show at the bottom took the top prize as RtBE's 2019 Favorite Live Show. This year excellent for live music as some killer concerts were left off this list. Click that "Read More" button and get started

Live Review: The Hold Steady - Brooklyn Bowl 12/6/19

The Hold Steady

Live @ Brooklyn Bowl

12/6/19

This is the fourth year in a row that The Hold Steady have taken over the Brooklyn Bowl to host their run of four shows back to back titled Massive Nights. RtBE has been there since the beginning catching at least one show per run, and the packed house on Friday night was a blast of excitement with some new musical twists keeping things fresh. 

The band is always a great time live and their truncated tours, all based around multi-night stands in larger cities, allow the crowds to arrive from all over and soak the Unified Scene in. With their newest album Thrashin' Through The Passion released earlier this year, the band had a few more songs to pull from this run, but instead of skewing new, they went old the first two nights of the Brooklyn Bowl stand, playing a song each night which they hadn't played in some time.

Instead of continuing that trend on Friday night, they transformed into The Horn Steady, inviting The horn players Stuart Boogie and Jordan McLean to join for almost half the show, expanding the groups already over the top sound to soaring levels.

Before the brass joined the proceedings the group came out of the box with a strong "Constructive Summer" opener, powerful drums to kick off "Party Pit" and huge singalong for "You Can Make Him Like You". Boogie and McLean added brass runs for newer songs like "T Shirt Tux" and "You Did Good Kid" but also accentuated old school fan favorites like "The Cattle and The Creeping Things", "Sequestered In Memphis" and the whole runs namesake "Massive Nights".

The core group, Craig Finn (vocals, guitar), Tad Kubler (guitar), Galen Polivka (bass), Bobby Drake (drums), Franz Nicolay (keyboards) and Steve Selvidge (guitar), was in fine form and the added brass really raised the energy levels for longtime fans, it is small flourishes like this that make The Hold Steady worth returning to year and massive year. The night closed with more brass accentuation on "Hostile, Mass" and a blazing version of "Killer Parties" to wrap up the night as the band continues to sound rock solid and excited to be playing their positive jams.
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Support the band and peep some video below:
   

Year In Review 2019 - Favorite Albums Part 1: The Just Misses and Let Downs

Another great year is finishing up for @RockBodElec and we wouldn't be a proper music site if we didn't end the year with a "Best Of" list, so RtBE Presents the Best of 2019 Favorite Albums Part One: The Just Misses & Let Downs:

In the instance that RtBE has reviewed the album either on the site or somewhere else we will link to that review and just give a quick summation, just click on the name and title and you can read it. As always RtBE worked with the Glide Team to give input on the their Top 20, so expect some overlap.

Again the focus here is on full albums, not singles, but complete releases you can slap on and listen all the way through. We know these are a dying breed, but it still is the way we consume music, no shuffle or singles for RtBE.

Today we are going to focus on the "Just Misses" of our top ten and unfortunately the "Let Downs" released this year. Obviously these are just our personal preferences, feel free to voice your opinion in the comments. Expect second installment (#10-6) soon, but for now click on the green "Read More" below:

Album Review: Sunn 0))) - Life Metal

Sunn 0)))

Life Metal

***and1/2 out of *****

The follow up to 2015's Kannon, Life Metal is more absorbing feedback drone from the masters Sunn 0))). Main guitarists Greg Anderson Stephen O’Malley turn up their stack of amplifiers and radiate sound from everywhere, as minor touches and flourishes help set sonic tones. While not as successful as their masterpiece Monoliths and Dimensions, Life Metal is a triumphant return for the decibel ramping guitar duo.

Opener "Between Sleipnir’s Breaths" starts and ends with samples from horses neighing, in between the riffs roar and compared to past outings things move to a climax slightly faster. Hildur Guðnadóttir spoken word, breathy vocals hard to make out and get washed in the sound, but things are ominous as always.

"Troubled Air" increases the screeching while adding chimes and as sense of brightness, as if it is an awaking from a deep slumber to the overloaded sound of morning while "Aurora" dips back into the darkness of guttural roars but it is the least engaging piece here. While their are other musicians who ad flourishes, T.O.S. Nieuwenhuizen (moog) Hildur Guðnadóttir (Haldorophone, Electric Cello, Voice) Tim Midyett (Bass Guitar, Bass Crotales) and Anthony Pateras (Pipe Organ) this is Anderson and O'Malley's show as their six strings hum and reverberate.

Album closer "Novæ" drips out of "Aurora" but in the first few moments of it's over twenty four minute journey it is already more inventive. It's cutting riffs and warbling feedback echoes lead the way through winding passage that rev up and cool back down with low end rumble all among the feedback and body soaking power.

Produced by Steve Albini Life Metal is the first of two releases from Sunn 0))) in 2019 and while their sound clearly is not for everyone, fans will be ecstatic that the reverb and doom both loom large on this four song album. Sunn 0))) is back with a vengeance.
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Support the band, buy the album, listen on bandcamp and below and peep some video: