Jim Barraud

This past Saturday I had pleasure of attending the NIN/JA (Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction) show at the PNC Bank Arts Center (Garden State Arts Center to those of use who know better) in Holmdel, NJ. It was a big day for me as I had been looking forward to this day ever since I purchased the tickets a couple of months ago. This tour has also been billed as the final Nine Inch Nails tour.

Some background… Midway through the tour Trent Reznor posted a special VIP opportunity on the NIN website. He began seeking donations for Eric De La Cruz. Someone in desperate need of a heart transplant but stuck in the red tape of the healthcare system. In return for your donation, Trent offered VIP opportunities to his fans. For a $300 donation, you and guest would be able to meet the band, get autographs, pics, handshakes, hugs, etc, and be able to attend the bands soundcheck. For $1000 you and a quest received all of the above, plus backstage access where you could have dinner with the band and even watch the show from the side of the stage. Seeing this as a once in a lifetime opportunity for me (and at the insistence of my wife) I donated $300. I got to try and help someone in dire need and gained an opportunity to meet one of my idols. This on top of the already great seats I purchased for the show via the NIN presale. I was excited that my wife was finally going to be attending a NIN show with me (she’s a Jane’s fan) plus be with me when I got to meet Trent and attend the soundcheck. We joked this would be our official 9th wedding anniversary outing. She was excited. I was excited. Then tragedy struck.

Two days before the concert my wife broke her ankle. Since she had yet to see a specialist (thanks healthcare system!) and was in a lot of pain, she would be unable to attend the show. Which of course made us both upset as we’d been looking forward to this for months. She insisted that I still go, but not wanting the ticket to go to waste, I dialed up my future brother in-law who I knew would enjoy the show and the VIP opportunity. He jumped at the offer and we were off to the show.

I knew it was going to be a long day since we needed to be at the venue by 2:15 for the meet and greet. The outpouring of donations for the VIP opportunity far exceeded the bands expectations, so due to the large volume of donors they blocked out 2 hours of time for the meet and greet to accommodate everyone. There were about 130-150 donors at this show, but others have had between 200-400.

When it came time to meet the band, donors were broken up into groups of 20 and were escorted to the meet and greet area. The band were sat behind a table and you had the opportunity for handshakes, a quick chat and to get one item signed. I brought my copy of The Slip since it was the latest album, limited edition and had most of the band members who were going to be signing it on the disc. I had a handshake and brief chit-chat with each of the band members as they signed my CD, but of course I was the most nervous meeting Trent. I splurged the usual “honor to meet you, been a fan for years” banter, then explained that my wife was supposed to be hear with me but that she had broken her ankle two days previously and was unable to come. I also mentioned that this was something she was extremely upset about. He mentioned it was a pleasure to be doing this and that he appreciated the help with the donation. He also mentioned it was too bad about my wife with a “that really sucks” kind of smirk. It was all very surreal and went very fast, but was at the same time awesome. After everyone had their opportunity with the band, our group gathered around for a group picture with the band.

After the meet and greet it was time for the soundcheck. We were treated to 4 songs the band wouldn’t be playing that night. It was like our own private concert for the donors and I was in the third row. A truly awesome experience. The songs played were Home, I’m Afraid of Americans, Lights in the Sky, and In This Twilight. As Trent said in the soundcheck “We’ll get the quiet pussy shit out of the way now and rock out tonight”. And indeed they did.

The performances started off with Street Sweeper Social Club, Tom Morello’s new band. I had heard a couple tracks before the show and thought they were good, but their performance far exceeded my expectations. Their energy was infectious and performance was top notch. I’ll definitely be picking up their album when it comes out on June 16th and I highly recommend checking it out.

Next up, as the sun was setting, was Nine Inch Nails. I wasn’t sure what to expect as far as setlist goes since the setlists for this tour have been so varied from venue to venue. I had a good idea of what could be played, but I stayed away from checking the setlists of the previous couple shows to keep some sense of surprise. The show kicked off with Pinion, Wish and than Last. From there I knew we were in for something special. I honestly couldn’t have hoped for a better set. Were there other songs I was hoping to hear besides what was played? Sure. But the cohesiveness of the set and unrelenting energy of the band really made this a special night. Highlights for me were Wish, Last, Reptile, Meet Your Master, Non-Entity, Mr. Self Destruct and 1,000,000. Also, thanks to their relaxed camera policy I was able to capture some nice video and photos.

To close the show was Jane’s Addiction. Fan bias aside, I wasn’t sure how anything could follow the performance NIN just gave. And I think I was right. While I like Jane’s Addiction and thought they put on a great performance I had a hard time getting into it. While both performances were loud volume wise, I felt the NIN sound mix was better as it was easier to make out lyrics and individual instruments while Jane’s was more of a wall of sound that made it hard to make out certain songs. For example I didn’t realize one song was Been Caught Stealing until about a quarter of the way into it. But overall they were entertaining.

It’s four days later and I’m still on a high from the show. From the meet & greet to the soundcheck to the phenomenal performance, it’s a day I will never forget. Thanks Trent and Company.

NIN Setlist

Soundcheck:
Home
I’m Afraid of Americans
Lights in the Sky
In This Twilight

Show:
Pinion
Wish
Last
Discipline
March of the Pigs
Reptile
Meet Your Master
Gave Up
La Mer
Non-Entity
The Way Out Is Through
Mr. Self Destruct
1,000,000
Echoplex
Survivalism
The Good Soldier
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole
Hurt

Today marks the release of Pronto - All is Golden. Pronto is the side project of Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen. Don’t let the Wilco association give you preconceived notions of the sound of the record. It’s less of the Wilco alt-country sound and more of a grass roots Americana sound. I’ve heard some refer to it as AM Radio rock. I’m not exactly sure what that is (I hear the older folks used to listen to it), but what I do know is that it sounds damn good and you should pick yourself up a copy at the the Contraphonic web store, iTunes or Amazon.

In addition to the new album, today also marks the launch of the new Pronto site. I assisted in the XHTML/CSS development and Wordpress implementation. Visit today to find out the latest band news, tour dates and sign up for their newsletter. They’re also on that hip new thing called Twitter, so you can follow them there as well.

Full Disclosure: The exceptional drummer of Pronto, Mr. Greg O’Keeffe, is not only a friend of mine, but also my employer. While that may insinuate some bias in my opinion of the album, it doesn’t. I’d just as openly let him know that it sucks if I thought it did… right after my yearly review.

Last night the wife and I went to see David Byrne perform at the newly renovated Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ. Mr. Byrne is touring in support of his latest collaboration with Brian Eno, “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today”.

The tour entitled, “The Songs of Davd Byrne and Brian Eno” is just that. The setlist consisted of an even mix of songs off their latest collaboration as well as earlier Talking Heads songs in which Brian Eno was a producer and collaborator. Songs such as “Once in a Lifetime”, “Houses in Motion”, “Heaven”, and “Life During Wartime”.

The performance consisted of not only David and his band, but also dance numbers during certain songs. The dancers added a visual element to the songs that was welcoming and not overly distracting. If they were present throughout all the songs, it would have probably been too much. But a nice balance was achieved in how the dancers were utilized in select songs and not in others.

Musically David and the band were top notch. I’ve seen him perform solo twice previously and this was the best I’ve seen him. He appeared to be having a great time and the crowd was giving off an overwhelming positive energy. The first standing ovation came after the fifth song, “Houses in Motion”, and were frequent after that.

A strong line of thunderstorms moved through the area today which consisted of some impressive cloud formations. What really struck me was the rate at which the clouds were traveling. So a whipped out my point and shoot and captured some footage.

With the release of the Ghosts I-IV album a few months ago, Nine Inch Nails has been holding a film festival on YouTube. The idea being to take the tracks from Ghosts and apply imagery you feel fits the tracks best. And since the album was released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license, this is a legit use of the music.

I thought my cloud footage fit nicely with one of the Ghosts tracks, so this is my submission.

Last night I experienced my first Nine Inch Nails concert and what an experience it was. This is a band I’ve wanted to see perform live since high school, but just never did. Well last night more than made up for lost time.

Mr. Sykes and I traveled up to the IZOD Center (or the Brendan Byrne Arena as we old school Jersey folk remember it) in East Rutherford, NJ for the show. But to call it a “show” would be an understatement. It was more of an audio/visual juggernaut sending your auditory and visual senses into overload. There were signs posted around the arena warning that “Strobe lights are in use” when they should have said “your mind may explode”.

Being a long-time fan and this being my first time seeing NIN live, I was extremely happy with the setlist. Sure, they played the big standards “Closer”, “Head Like a Hole” and “Hurt” which are to be expected (and rocked). But they also played some great non-standard tracks off past albums. “The Big Comedown” off The Fragile was one of the best performances of the night. But the best? “Reptile”. Fucking Reptile. I can’t tell you how excited I was to see them perform this, and we were only 8 songs into the performance.

The first third of the show consisted mostly of a wall of synchronized lights and strobe lights for the visual effects, which in itself was amazing. Then three screens were lowered to stage level and basically encased the band. The front two being essentially a mesh LCD screen (not sure of the exact technology) allowing you to see the band behind them. These screens created the illusion of the band playing in the desert, a swamp, the rain and even a wall of static that gave the appearance of being controlled by Trent. Amazing stuff.

The musical performance was top notch. The band really seemed energized and hammered through each song flawlessly. Midway through the show they performed three tracks off the recently released instrumental album “Ghosts I-IV” with an electronic/acoustic twist involving an upright bass and Trent playing a xylophone. The songs were more down tempo then the rest of the set which provided a nice change of pace. But were back to rocking in overdrive with “Wish” in no time.

Overall I would have to say this is one of, if not the best show I have ever seen. It’s possible they’ll be playing in a city near you. So if you have the opportunity, go check them out. Even if your not a fan, it could turn you into one.

Unfortunately my little point and shoot was having a hard time capturing any of it so I didn’t really get any quality photos or videos. But I’m finding plenty of other people did, so I’ve included flickr slideshow below of shots others have gotten. You can also find plenty video goodness from the show on YouTube

This past Friday (August 8th) I had the pleasure of attending the first day of the All Points Festival at Liberty State Park, NJ with the wife and Mr. Jon Sykes. I haven’t been to a festival (much less a concert for adults) in quite some time, so I was pretty excited to go. Of course that excitement level was cranked up a few notches since both Underworld and Radiohead were playing, back to back no less.

APW was being promoted as a sort of “green” festival. Attendees were encouraged to use mass transit and if you wanted to drive you had to obtain a special carpool permit. We had opted for the ferry route. But since we were coming for southern Jersey, our trip consisted of 1 hour car ride, 40 minute ferry ride and yet another 15 minute ferry ride. From what I’ve read by other attendees, the ferry was the way to go.

Aside from a couple 5 - 10 minute rain showers, the weather was perfect. The view great as well with both the Manhattan skyline and Lady Liberty in the background. Since it was a “Music and Arts” festival, there were various art installations and performances scattered around the grounds.

The festival itself was well organized, but there was one aspect that felt a bit too restrictive. In order to purchase alcohol you needed to get your special “over the age of 21” wristband. Your wristband had 5 tabs on it and that was your drink limit. Each time you purchased a drink a tab was removed. I actually thought that was a good idea and it seemed to work because I didn’t see anyone acting out of line all day. The downside was you weren’t allowed out of the designated drinking areas. Which I can sort of understand since they were probably trying to prevent you from passing out drinks to your underage friends. But the issue was the drinking areas were fenced in and the view of the view of the entire festival and performances were blocked by the fences. You started feeling like a second class citizen for drinking a beer.

We had opted for the more expensive VIP tickets which included access to air conditioned lounge, more beverage choices and special VIP viewing platform in front of the main stage. But apparently the VIP viewing platform access didn’t include Radiohead since everyone with the special VIP bracelets got kicked off after Underworld for the “real” VIPs with orange bracelets. While the walled off beer area irritated me, this angered me. What’s the point of buying “VIP” tickets if you get access to the VIP area for only select times?

Because of our (early) access to the VIP viewing platform, we stuck mostly to the main stage performances. The Go Team!, who I’ve never head of, were pretty awful. On the other hand, I was pleasantly surprised by Michael Franti and Spearhead. They had a great sound and energy. Next was the New Pornographers. I had just gotten acquainted with their music before the festival, but their live performance blew away anything I had listened to previously.

I’ve never seen Underworld live but I’ve been a fan for quite some time. While I was super excited to see them, I was a little disappointed to find out their set would be during the daylight because of everything I’ve heard and seen about their light show. But guess what, it didn’t matter. Their sound was tremendous live and their visuals carried through despite the daylight.

Then there was Radiohead. As great as all the other performances were throughout the day, they all seemed like opening acts compared to Radiohead. Both their visuals and musical performance were spectacular. The setlist was comprised mostly of their In Rainbows material with interjections from their back catalog, which was perfect. The only downside was that I had to leave before the encore in order to make my second ferry home.

Overall I felt the festival was great (even if I only went the first day). It was well planned, not over crowded and the bands had decent set lengths. I’m hoping it does really become an annual event and based on the other reviews I’ve read, they should have no problem making that happen.

I’ve put together a flickr set of the photos and videos I took throughout the day. I didn’t get any of the Radiohead set because I was too enthralled with the performance to take out my camera. But my cohort Mr. Sykes got some great photos and videos of the performance.

Weezer cover Radiohead’s Creep, live in Portland from Dave Allen on Vimeo.

Playing the Building is a fascinating project by David Byrne where he hooks up an old pump organ to the The Battery Maritime Building in New York. Various motors are attached to the different pipes, radiators and other metal structural elements of the building, each giving off a unique sound when the corresponding key on the organ is played. (via Greg O’Keeffe)

Big Ideas (don’t get any) from James Houston on Vimeo

Now this is pretty awesome. It’s a remix of the song “Nude” by Radiohead using old malfunctioning electronic equipment.

I missed the live radiohead webcast that took place a couple days ago, but I’ve been able to catch up on some highlights via YouTube. The above clip is my favorite.

View more clips, including the entire webcast, here

One of my main sources of sanity when dealing with the daily grind is music. Music at home, in the car, and at work. Music listening at work (or while working at home) is usually performed through headphones. My headphones for the past couple years have been a moderate sounding pair of Sony earbuds. While sufficient, they always seemed rather lacking in terms of musical quality. And in a desire to regain some of my audiophile hay-day (pre bills & children), the search was on for a decent pair of headphones.

My search came down to two contenders. The Sennheiser HD280 Pro and the Sony MDR-V6. After reading endless online reviews of both headphones, I was able to aggregate the following Pros and Cons of each.

The Sennheiser HD280 Pros are said to have excellent and accurate sound quality. They excel at blocking outside sound without using noise canceling technology. I found three common complaints about the HD280 Pros. The first was that to achieve the excellent outside sound reduction, the headphones tend to press against your head tightly. Because of this, some people would report getting a headache after wearing them for an extended period of time. The second complaint was that they’re rather large. While this to completely subjective (some people love big bulky headphones) it was mostly expressed as a negative. The third was that the headphones need adequate power to perform properly. Portable devices such as mini-disc players (they still make these?) and iPods tend to be a bit underpowered for these headphones.

The Sony MDR-V6 benefits from being a tried and true studio headphone for the past 15 years or so. They have excellent sound reproduction and people say they tend to be a bit more bass heavy then the Sennheiser HD280 Pros. Which I prefer. They also have lower power requirements and work great with iPods. They’re also smaller and more portable. The only complaints I was able to find was that some people report of their ears getting too warm due to the ear pads. And that the ear pads seem to start falling apart after 7 or 8 years. Both complaints seem to be easily resolvable with these Beyerdynamic velour replacements.

It should be noted that while both had their common complaints, the amount of complaints of both of these were minimal. And the vast majority of reviewers praised their choice headphones. Although the Sony MDR-V6 seemed to get a bit more in the way of praise.

So I went with the Sony MDR-V6. For the added bass response people noted and the smaller form factor since I’ll be toting these to and from work. The main factor that turned me away from the HD280 Pros was the perception that they were a tight fit and the complaints of headaches from several reviewers. Being someone who is prone to headaches, this was something I wanted to avoid.

So far I’ve been extremely pleased with my purchase. The headphones sound crisp and clear and bring out a level of detail I haven’t heard in my music in quite some time. I find them very comfortable and haven’t experienced the “hot ears” that some people complain about. I’ve also read reports that they sound even better once they “burn in”, but I’m not sure if I buy into the whole “burn in” theory. Time will tell on that front.