Remember that music catalog project I conjured up a few months back? Well, it took until December, but I finally came up with the motivation to really get this thing rolling. Such is the magic of coffee shop coding. Anyway, it’s not done yet, but please feel free to view the preliminary version, which includes some of the data I’m seeding it with (Bands up to ‘C’, currently).

The seeding, though entirely being a labor of love, is a very time consuming effort. While I’ve got a decent (and simple) back end built to add or edit bands, each band I add takes a couple minutes. Besides trying to really remember the source of the music, the trickiest part has to be classifying genres. I made the mistake of not really doing my homework on a consistent source for this, erring towards Wikipedia. Electronic bands’ genres are probably the worst to deal with; Electro, Electronic, Electronica, Indietronica, Electropop!? Seriously, it’s enough to make your head explode. At least I’m learning about all these obscure genres in this process. My resolution here is to cross source with Last.fm when the data is tricky.

My current coding quandary is trying to bake AJAX/JQuery into my app. Specifically, I’m trying to build dynamic select menus for my search, which doesn’t feel like it’s as easy as it should be with CakePHP. Otherwise, it’s been a total blast to work with. After this is functioning, my next intent is to build out the statistics page and then building widgets on this blog page to show recent additions and upcoming shows. It’s likely I’ll be giving the entire site a facelift again at some point too. I’m not currently happy with how it looks. Needs more Web 2.0

So, I promised I’d talk a little more about how I got into music so much, and now’s a good opportunity. Did you check out my catalog yet? If so, did you notice that ‘World of Warcraft’ is a source? Well that’s how it all got started. I used to be a major junkie for WoW, in high school calling it my primary hobby would be an understatement. Anyway, in WoW, people would make player versus player combat videos, setting them to uptempo rock music or techno. I’d watch some of them repeatedly, and after a while I realized I was watching because of the music. My collection soon sprung into existence from those first bands. Pandora helped a lot too.

Here’s Sorrow Hill 2 by Otherguy as an example of just one of the videos that inspired me.

Winter/Spring Concerts

This list is definitely subject to change, bands are always sneaking acts in with little notice.

VNV Nation – Tomorrow. They’re an industrial/electronic duo on the heavier side, and one of the first bands I ever got into. Even though I rarely listen to this band anymore, I’m excited for the opportunity to catch them live. I consider it a great opportunity to get back into their music.

The Antlers w/ Suuns – 12/10 (The day after tomorrow). Fun indie pop/rock outfit with some melancholoy melodies. I only heard about them a couple weeks ago as some friends are attending this show; I just listened to their discography and am quite impressed. Suuns I still need to get around to listening to!

Girls w/ Real Estate – 1/14. Two fun new indie rock bands for me to open up the new year’s concerts. Girls is fun, surf-rocky and has some well established indie cred. Real Estate is an indie rock outfit that I am due to get to on my playlists shortly. The consensus is they’re pretty good though!

Cults – 1/19. Cults is one of the better new bands of 2011 and, to my knowledge, this is one of their first acts headlining at a bigger venue. I was a bit unsure if I wanted to snag a ticket for this as I’ve seen them billed as openers on a lot of shows. However, I then remembered that I love a lot of their songs.. so why not go? Haha! I’m excited for them and expecting a fun show.

Chairlift – 1/23. 80′s inspired, bass-heavy, indie pop music duo. To my dismay, tickets sold out for their last show in NYC (Mercury Lounge, October). That being said, they have a new album out around the time of this show, and I’m not keen on missing them again.

The Darkness – 2/4. Hahahaha. These guys are glam rock, sort of remind me of the Brit version of Electric Six. I am not a huge fan, but now that I know they are coming by I am going to give them another listen and probably pull the trigger on this show.

Bombay Bicycle Club – 3/3. Brit indie rockers! Fun, dancey, post punk revival! Gogogogo!

Mutemath – 3/8. Atmospheric alt rock group and one of the better alt rock bands out of the US lately. They are promoting their third album, Odd Soul, which I personally enjoyed very much. I’ve found all their albums to be seriously quality releases and will recommend these guys to anyone.

They Might be Giants – 3/10. I just love their cover of Istanbul and Constantinople and I know these guys have made a career out of quirky rock songs. Gonna get to listening more now that I’ve made my investment.

Kasabian – 3/22. Kasabian is one of the more popular bands from across the Atlantic that’s really not well known here. I’ve found quite a few great songs by them, and I’m eager to see them live.

Metronomy – 3/30. Bass-heavy and keyboard-heavy group I only recently got into. I’m pretty positive they’re going to put on a great show. Their music videos make me think they have an Apple obsession.

The Naked and Famous – 4/4. An acclaimed Aussie synthpop group, notable for recently selling out Webster Hall in October. I bought my ticket four months in advance to avoid that from happening again. Haha.

Nada Surf – 4/7. They’re an alt rock group from the 90′s whom I really haven’t followed heavily. They have their first album of new material in three plus years coming out in January, so I’m of the opinion that there is going to be some quality jamming centered around it. I like a lot of their other stuff besides that ‘Popular’ song anyway.

M83 – 5/10. New Wave/electronic act that is definitely one of the hotter groups currently around. They sold out back to back shows at Webster Hall last month way in advance. I’m picking up tickets for this show the day they are going on sale, so I hope I don’t miss out. Scalpers will definitely have a field day here .

I attempted to buy tickets for M83 but found them sold out within 6 hours of going on sale. Pretty lame. Might try Craigslist in the weeks leading up to the show but I’m not holding my breath on this show.

Acts: Battles w/ Nisennenmondai

Date: 11/1/11

Party Members: Sean, Nicole, Tristan

Venue: Webster Hall

Battles is a jam-out, experimental rock outfit local to NYC that’s been hopping around the scene for more than a few years now. I’m a new fan, and had no prior experience with them besides a late night listening session with some new friends, Sean, Nicole and Tristan. How I met these guys is an interesting story in and of itself, and a nice example of how much random chance plays a hand in our lives.

Let’s first cut back a few weeks to Neon Indian’s set during CMJ on 10/24. I crossed paths with them on our way to the show, we found out (surprise!) we share a lot of music in common, and I recommended checking out Bleepy Bloop Fest afterwards, a dj party in Brooklyn organized by my favorite music blog, Hipster Runoff. I didn’t see them during Neon Indian, and we parted ways. I wound up bailing on my group to check out Bleepy-Bloop alone. However, I didn’t enjoy myself there and did not linger long before peacing. DJ sets just are not my thing.

On the PATH ride back home, which is always a fun time, I found myself talking to a very wasted kid about his love for Taco Truck, a late night joint on the way home from the station. I stopped there to wish him well and who’s behind him but Sean and Nicole! As it turns out, they also went to Bleepy-Bloop.. sadly for them, the age of 21 was strictly enforced, so their journey was for naught. I wound up chilling with them and Tristan that night and learned well about the good that is Battles.

As it turns out, I got to the Battles concert before them and caught the opener alone, an instrumental act called Nisennenmondai, who are comprised of three Japanese chicks that specialize in long, trance-inducing rock outs. My friends had listened on youtube and decided to pass, but we all agreed when they caught the end of it that they were the ones missing out. These chicks really knew how to rock out live, the one on drums in particular had me totally hypnotized with her ferocity and pace.

Nisennenmondai concludes, and Sean and Nicole come up with me to be front and center, while Tristan picks a vantage point away from the chaos that would stir when Battles took the stage. Battles didn’t sell out, but they definitely got Webster Hall’s dance floor pretty packed. With regards to Battles’ music and performance, I can’t say if they ‘nailed’ their songs since I’m a new fan, but visuals, audio, and band antics all seemed fine with me. I was particularly impressed/amused with their keyboardist style of karate chopping sounds on two slanted keyboards.

What made this show particularly fun was the spontaneous mosh pit that erupted right next to me a few songs in. I love moshing! It’s the kind of thing that just sucks you in and forces you to participate, so it’s best to enjoy it or book it away. I quickly lost my tentativity, going from holding position on the outside edge to dancing like a maniac and shoving everyone around me.

I feel bad for the people who don’t get moshing at a show. Once the mosh circle fills out, if you elect to remain on that peripherary rather than flee the scene, you’re eligible for getting a body or twenty tossed into you every song. A dude dressed up as the devil did not understand that and had his concert ruined since he lost his cool over and over again while people got bounced into him. Us moshers were feeding off his bad mojo so of course he was well bumped and heckled over the night.

I left Battles mentally exhausted and completely dehydrated. Dancing myself to the state means that I consider the show an overall success. My brawling buddies get top marks for making the show quite an enjoyable one for me. Since my friends still are raving about how awesome the show was, I suspect we’ll all catch them again next chance we get.

Upcoming Shows:

Los Campesinos! 11/16
Architecture in Helsinki 11/18
Holy Ghost! 11/26