The Werks Double Their Crowd at The Newport

The Werks are hoping 2011 is going to be their break out year, and if their show at The Newport Music Hall last Saturday is any indication, they’re probably right. The Werks, co-headlining with Columbus staple Mike Perkins, brought nearly twice as many jam-hungry fans into the show as the last time they played The Newport less than six months ago.

The show kicked off early with openers Shank Bone, of Columbus, taking the stage around 8:30. They were a great act to compliment The Werks with shredding guitar, funky organ sounds and just the right amount of improvisation.

Mike Perkins played from 10 until midnight, alongside a bassist Johnny Z and saxophone player Jerry DePizzo of O.A.R. The acoustic singer/songwriter is reminiscent of Keller Williams or Dave Matthews and has been playing in Columbus for years. It was a little bit too mellow for a two-hour set but the crowd dug it, dropping into a mellow groove and dancing along.

The Werks finally took the stage at midnight to play until curfew at 2 am. Having seen The Werks many, many times before this its safe to say they brought it hard, playing their best show that central Ohio has seen. The crowd was going wild; senses overloaded with the incredibly loud P.A. and the band’s amazing light set up.

The band played songs off of their first two albums, “Synapse” and “Dig it”, as well as some new tunes we can anticipate on the studio album they’re currently working on. Each member of the band is so talented, which makes their show so fun to watch. Its easy to find yourself staring, jaw-dropped at guitarist Chris Houser as he shreds through the most incredible solos like it’s nothing. All members of the band sing, too, including drummer Rob Chafin who is best described as an animal. One signature of their shows is a five-minute drum solo during which the rest of the band walks off stage, highlighting the intensity and rhythmic talents of Chafin. Bassist Chuckie Love may seem quiet when you meet him but with a bass in his hands he’s a funky slapping machine. Keyboardist Norman Dimitrouleas, on the other hand, is described by the band as having an “explosive personality” and his playing isn’t any less exciting.

The show wrapped up just before 2 with the band coming back on stage for an encore. Overall, the show was representative of the band’s position right now; full of excitement, anticipation, and awesome jams. Here’s to 2011, boys.

Written by Meghan Bender

(Below is a great video of The Werks performing at Newport Music Hall from last year. Photo borrowed from http://www.theuntz.com/TheWerks)

Columbus Shows Love for Girl Talk

The sounds of Missy Elliott, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Lennon, Biggie Smalls, and hundreds more were blasting out of the speakers to a sold out crowd at The LC in Columbus, Ohio on Thursday. After selling out two nights in a row at the Newport in January of 2008, mash-up master Gregg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, returned to Columbus for the second night of his 3-month tour promoting his new album All Day.

The crowd, many sporting official shirts that said "I AM NOT A DJ", packed into the 2,200-capacity venue to get their dancing fix and hear what Gillis would with do their favorite pop songs. A lot of the appeal of Girl Talk is that he, as a mash-up artist, doesn't use samples and beats but rather pieces together his hits from parts of songs fans already know.

For his follow-up to 2008's Feed The Animals, Gillis created a 73-minute long track containing hundreds of different songs. Though the album is split into tracks, its meant to be listened to straight through. For a breakdown of the tracks used on the album check out "All Day: Visualized".

He opened up with the tracks from the first song on the album, "Oh No", but throughout his 90 minute set he ventured outside of the formulas he used on All Day. After going to the show with some skepticism, it was good to see GT venture outside of the tracks he had already produced.



As far as the aesthetics and stage performance, GT seemed to be taking a page straight out of The Flaming Lips' book. During the first song fans rushed out from backstage and danced on either side of Gillis's equipment the whole show. There were confetti blasters, balloons, toilet paper, and behind the stage, a massive screen. At some points during the show Gillis would pick up a video camera and show individuals and the crowd on the visualizer with special effects. It wasn't the most original formula for spicing up the show but it definitely beat watching a dude on a laptop for an hour and a half (though he brings a lot of energy to it...).

GT wrapped up the show with an awesome Bombs Over Baghdad/Pony/Walk It Out/Pop Bottles > John Lennon's Imagine and scrolled "Get Tired THIS IS YOUR NIGHT" across the screen. After an hour and a half of non-stop dancing, the crowd abided and swayed back and forth as Girl Talk wrapped up his set.

After selling out his third show here in a row, its easy to say that Columbus loves Girl Talk and anything but a great time would be hard to expect out of his show. If Gillis had any doubts when he quit his day job as an engineer to become Girl Talk full time, his appearances in Columbus should serve as evidence that he made the right move.



-Meghan Bender

Finding New Music and Building Your Library

Finding new music is a challenge. Not because there isn’t enough of it; quite the contrary. There are so many new artists and even genres that it would take years to listen to all of the noteworthy tunes that have come out in 2010.

Most people rely on their friends for suggestions or mix CDs, but for the true music explorer who ventures out on his own to find the most prime under the radar cuts, it’s not that easy. What if you want to be the one recommending your musical finds to friends?

The first barrier to finding new music is filtering it down. This takes some time, but it could save you albums-worth of time listening to garbage. Read reviews- try JamBase, OurVinyl, and even Amazon. By reading reviews ahead of time you can prevent making a quick judgement after listening to a band’s “fluke” album . Listen to Pandora Radio or last.FM, check out iTunes Genius, and build a playlist on Grooveshark or 8Tracks. Download full live shows on Archive.org (I recommend Papadosio’s SpringFest set)

If you’re a “pirate”, musical booty comes cheap. Torrents, MegaUpload, and Limewire have exposed many people to artists that they may have never heard if there was a price on it. But to those who think of the artist and prefer the honest route, finding new tunes costs money. All is not lost though.

Music lovers can find exclusive content for free from an unexpected source. iTunes Podcasts are a hidden treasure. Artists from Bassnectar to Umphrey’s McGee to STS9, Blue Man Group, Wilco, Bob Dylan, and Jack Johnson (to name a few) all have their own podcasts. And the typical price? Free. Many artists also release exclusive free content on their websites. Sub Swara, Umphrey’s, and Phish send mixtapes and free live recordings to those on their mailing lists.

Between online radio and free downloads, musical adventurers can build up a long repetoire of no-cost tunes. And if that isn’t enough, there’s one more (possibly illegal) trick to getting that song out of your head and onto your laptop- Listen to YouTube. The site converts Youtube videos into audio .mp3 files so you can listen to them like normal tracks and without accessing YouTube or the web.

With the tools above, you’ll be impressing your friends and building your library in no time.