Not the best post, not the last post, but kind of both for a while

So the old Windfarm has been pretty inactive these days, for various reasons, among those chiefly the day job and living in a cultural desert. Thanks to both of my readers for hanging out the last 3-plus years. It's a bit sad to me that I have fallen off of writing so much in such an amazing year for new music (seriously, please check out Death of a Decade by Ha Ha Tonka). Nonetheless, rather than be that blog that just stopped abruptly, I wanted to put something up as a placeholder of sorts. I'll probably still post from time to time when Jason Aldean puts out a new country rap song, but otherwise, why keep just putting up music calendars in a place without music (Marfa excepted, of course)?

I still use Twitter under the Windfarmtx name, actually more lately than ever before, and you will no doubt find me talking an embarrassing amount about things like college football. I'll still tweet about the occasional good local show, but like everything else on twitter, each will fade into obscurity an hour or so after it is posted. For everyone's benefit, no doubt.

In the meantime, as I said, not the best post or the last post, but sort of, solely on account of this video. I'm not the first to tell anyone about it, but these three and a half minutes basically summarize everything that Windfarm was around for in the first place. Easily the best musical moment of 2011.

Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Similar to all the other music blogs, I don't want to make too big of a deal out of the first album from Bon Iver when talking about the new record. Let me sum up their reviews of the new album briefly:

Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Justin Vernon. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. For Emma. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Beards. Cabin. Winter. Snow. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Mono. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Emma. Wisconsin. Woods. Deer meat. Cabin. Winter. Beard. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Alone. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Beards. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Myth. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Mono. Wisconsin. Cabin. Eau Claire. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Deyarmond Edison. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Emma. Wisconsin. Woods. Deer meat. Cabin. Winter. Beard. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. For Emma. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Beards. Cabin. Winter. Snow. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Mono. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Emma. Wisconsin. Woods. Deer meat. Cabin. Winter. Beard. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Alone. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Beards. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Myth. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Cabin. Winter. Woods. Mono. Wisconsin. Cabin. Eau Claire. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Deyarmond Edison. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Wisconsin. Cabin. Winter. Emma. Wisconsin. Woods. Deer meat. Cabin. Winter. Beard.

It's good to know that the music writers of the world are so good at moving on. Pitchfork gave the new album a 9.5, which, to put that in perspective, compares to the 6.2 they gave Led Zeppelin IV, the 5.3 they gave Abbey Road, and the 4.0 they gave Nevermind. Further, apparently Stereogum loves this album so much they already named it the top album of the year (so far). Fleet Foxes came in at #19 this year. Really?

The fanfare surrounding this album is similar to the last National album, except the critics mostly slammed that album early on and then realized later how brilliant it was, and subsequently pretended they hadn't slammed the album. Hopefully it is not a bad sign for Bon Iver that the critics were fawning over this album before the cover art was released.

By the way, the album is really good.

don't know where I'm going...

Perhaps in U.S. cultural terms, I may be headed to the exact opposite of Boulder, CO. I'm packed up and headed to Odessa, TX. Clearly not heading there for live music but rather following a job and moving back closer to family. As much as I loved living near Denver, I think this move is going to be for good.

So what does Odessa offer as far as music/culture? Great question, I'm glad you asked.

It's not all that uncommon for people to have no idea where or what Odessa is. Friday Night Lights ring a bell? Yes, that's the one. Indie icons Explosions in the Sky hail from nearby Midland. Also, Guy Clark and Roy Orbison came from Monahans and Wink, respectively, Hoyle Nix established western swing in Big Spring and all around West Texas, and of course there's Larry Gatlin, Odessa's own hometown boy. "All in the gold, in California..."

It's not hard to criticize the much lesser presence of live music in the area, but in my new home, it's all going to be about finding the diamonds in the rough. Oddly enough, I have had two great musical experiences in my life in Odessa.

The first time, on the same night that my ex was getting married (My advice - never go, even when you're invited), I took the trip to Odessa to see Modest Mouse play at Dos Amigos. The show was literally played in the middle of a rodeo arena in the back of the venue. This was around the time of Good News for People Who Love Bad News, and it was an awesome show, not to mention much better than going to a wedding you don't want to be at.

The second time, a small group of us made the trek down from Lubbock to see Anathallo and the Colour Revolt play a tiny little honky tonk called Earls II. Pretty crazy place to see two indie bands, but it's one of those places where, when the right person promotes the show, the indie kids just show up. Promoters in this area come and go, but most of the time, someone gets up the energy/courage to start hosting shows again and the shows do fairly well, because the kids want to see live music so badly. Hoping I can play a very small part in making good shows happen from time to time.

But wait, there's more. As it turns out Odessa is a bit less than 3 hours from Marfa, the tiny town in deep West Texas that has turned into a substantial artist community. Unbelievably, this little town has hosted shows by Bon Iver, Jeff Tweedy, The Secret Machines, Yo La Tengo, Califone, Yeasayer. The list goes on and on. This place truly is an oasis when it comes to music offerings in the middle of the desert. In addition, Railroad Blues in nearby Alpine has a solid regular music calendar as well.

My musical landscape is changing, not ending. The blog will probably also change a bit. Expect general interest material about the West Texas region in general. This may include, but is not limited to Midland/Odessa, San Angelo, Lubbock, Marfa, Alpine, and Terlingua. I won't make any broad and bold statements about what will come of Windfarm in the next few years, but I hope to promote arts and culture in West Texas as much as time will allow.

Any West Texans who run across this blog, please feel free to pass along West Texas music events to me.

The best advertisement Grinnell Soccer could ever ask for

Basically nothing is more disappointing than going to a concert of a band whose album you love and being completely disappointed by their live performance. Possibly they played the songs live exactly as they are on the album, or maybe they were distant and total jerks to the crowd, or maybe they were ruined for you because you had to experience the music with 3,000 21 year-olds who were acting like idiots.

Without a doubt, experiences like those can sour a person on live music and make one wonder if it's worth the cost and the trouble to go to live shows. But then there's the moments that make it worth it. Moments that almost never translate onto recordings. For me those moments are things like seeing Steve Earle do an in-store and tell stories about Townes Van Zandt or seeing Old 97s for the first time at the Gypsy Tea Room in 1999 or my first Avett Brothers show or going to see Don Williams on his farewell tour. Those experience are etched into my being and make even the bad live music experiences worth it.

What is really amazing to me though is that every so often, some people are actually able to capture that greatness on tape or video. In fact, the Paris-based La Blogotheque's Take Away Shows have come to make capturing these experiences an art form. They may not be the only ones doing this type of thing, but they are certainly among the best. You can find the full list of Take Away Shows at the link above, but I'm posting what may be one of the best. The Bon Iver video below is simply amazing. You can find a number of other songs they played at the Web site, but this one is a favorite.

And no, nothing about this post has anything to do with the soccer team of a small Iowa liberal arts college, but the video does...sort of.

#93.3 - BON IVER - For Emma, Forever Ago
by lablogotheque

The Daredevil Christopher Wright - Denver show preview

The Daredevil Christopher Wright, hailing from Eau Claire, WI, will perform in Denver for the first time this Saturday, October 24th at the Meadowlark, along with Tim Pourbaix of Brooklyn and locals Andrea Ball and Dan Craig. DCW is currently touring in support of their new record, In Deference to a Broken Back, released in May 2009 on Amble Down Records. The band's debut full length is quite good, and I'm not just saying that because their fellow Eau Claire friend Justin Vernon (you know, the king of all things blog related) mixed their album. I've listened to the album a number of times over, and I find a new appealing characteristic in it upon each listen.

In Deference is quite an eclectic mix of songs, with instrumentation that is well placed and never overdone, nicely complimenting a strong ensemble of vocals, which are undoubtedly one of the greatest strengths of the album. The texture of the album varies from song to song, from "Bury You Alive," a bright sounding and upbeat (in spite of the title) track reminiscent of the Decemberists, to "We're Not Friends," a song driven by a catchy guitar progression and bearing the marks of being the "rocker" of the album. Perhaps the strongest song on the album is the quiet and ambling track that shares a name with the band. I find the value of this album to be the diversity of moods and sounds the band captures throughout, such that one can always find just the right song for whatever frame of mind you might be in at the time.

If you like what you've heard on the band's myspace, but want a few songs to throw onto your ipod, you can download the tracks from the Daytrotter session they recorded last year.

Finally, I'd like to pass along the email interview that the guys from Daredevil Christopher Wright were nice enough to do for Windfarm (links added by me):

Windfarm: You’ve recently released your new album, In Deference to a Broken Back, on Amble Down Records. What goals did you have sonically going into the recording process for the album?

Daredevil Christopher Wright: When we were preparing for and recording the record, our hope was to try to actualize all the arrangement ideas that we had been hearing throughout our time writing and performing these pieces as the three piece band that we are. To achieve this we reached out to a whole bunch of friends in Eau Claire and elsewhere. There is an abundance of musicians of every variety in Eau Claire due to the university in town and also I think just due to the nature of the folks who are in the area. Sonically and compositionally we tried to take each song individually and create a mood and a sound that served the style and message of the song. That is, we didn't think very specifically about unifying the sonic elements of the record. We hoped just by virtue of our doing the writing and arranging there would be a unified feel even as we hoped there would be a real sense of variety in terms of genre and style throughout the record...if that makes sense.

WF: Touring as a three piece band, should listeners expect a different sound or varied arrangements in your live show in comparison to the album?

DCW: For sure the arrangements are adjusted for the live show due to our being a three piece but, we would like to think anyway, that the energy that is present in the live show is just as satisfying in a different sort of way as the record. We like the idea of a recording being a picture of a certain series of ideas captured and that the live setting affords you the freedom to expand upon, change, or scrap those ideas for the sake of the continued development of the song. Now that I've reread what I just wrote I think that is almost certainly over intellectualizing it. We just like the idea of being able to change stuff if we want. Some of the live arrangements are very much like the record and others go far a field.

WF: Tell us about the music scene in Eau Claire. Has it been a supportive atmosphere in which to develop your sound?

DCW: The Eau Claire music scene has been a great place to grow up as a band. Like I said earlier, there are just all kinds of music being made in that place by a whole lot of really talented folks. It's been a great place to create because it is small enough where you can be a part of the arts scene with relative ease and make an impact. People just genuinely want to encourage each other. There certainly are struggles at times to get the broader community out to shows and the amount of kids getting together to make rock bands goes up and down at times but I think right now there are just a bunch of good bands. It's great to know them and imagine how things will look as more and more of these bands (hopefully) get out on the road.

WF: What new releases from other bands, either local or national, are you the most impressed with right now?

DCW: Our friends Laarks from Eau Claire just signed with Absolutely Kosher and will be releasing their record An Exultation of Laarks soon. It is a great record and should resound through this whole country and beyond. We are all really into the new Cryptacize record. We also got to play with a band called Helado Negro recently, who incidently are also on Asthmatic Kitty, and they are amazing both live and recorded. Their new record is Awe Owe.

WF: What can we expect from The Daredevil Christopher Wright over the course of the next year?

DCW: Our current focus is to tour as much as we can to support the release of In Deference. We just finished up nine weeks on the road touring East of the Mississippi and are just preparing to head out west in about a week. We are also working on some possibilities that will hopefully take us over seas. In the midst of this we're hoping to take some time to do some more writing and preparing for the next opportunity to record, though I don't know when that will be at this point. I guess right now we're trying to introduce ourselves to most everyone, everywhere. It's a big job but enormously exciting.

WF: Anything else we should know about the band?

DCW: If people are interested in the Eau Claire scene, here are some bands to listen to:

Meridene, Laarks, The Cloud Hymn, We Are the Willows, Cranes and Crows, Bon Iver, The Gentle Guest, The Wars of 1812

Other than that, this will be our first time in Denver. We're excited to be one mile up in the air.

WF: Denver, don't forget - catch The Daredevil Christopher Wright on Saturday, October 24th at the Meadowlark.

Bon Iver - Fox Theatre (Boulder, CO) - 07/12/09

Bon Iver could do no wrong on Sunday night. After a sold out show in Denver and a sold out show this night in Boulder, they continue to ride the wave of popularity after only one LP and one EP. And they ride this wave exceeding well, as opposed to other acts with similar rises to stardom that have not ridden that wavve so gracefully. If you don't know the back story on Bon Iver, let me fill you in - Justin Vernon made an amazing album by himself a few years ago and now everyone knows about it. Now he is touring behind that album and his recent Blood Bank EP and doing an outstanding job of it. If you can put on a great live show, and you're in a position where almost every song you have as a band is good, you get an end product that only comes around so often (If you're from the mainstream 90s, think 3eb on tour after their first album came out).

As with any show review I do, I end up giving my people watching report as much as I talk about the music. And let me tell you, this sold out show gave me more than enough examples, of which I'll pass along the best.

The setting:

Thinly bearded man and female companion standing on stairs, with 2 slightly older dudes and a woman behind them. One of the dudes is wearing a plaid shirt and the other has aging 90s rocker dude hair.

Skinny dude with thin beard (SDWTB): (turns to dudes behind him) Could you guys quit talking so I can hear the music?

90s rocker dude: (loudly) What?

(SDWTB turns back around and pinches fingers together with international sign for "shut it," which incidentally is also the international sign for "I'm probably a pretentious jerk")

(time passes, tension visually grows)

SDWTB: (not directly to dudes behind him, but uttered vaguely so as to implicitly address them) this is an amazing show.

Plaid shirt dude who would clearly win should the altercation turn physical (PSDW...TP): yeah, sure is.

SDWTB: would be even better if we could hear the songs over you talking.

PSDW...TP: (pretentious voice) We paid just the same as you.

SDWTB: (sheepishly, voice almost cracking) Maybe you should take a walk man.

PSDW...TP: (more confident, less sheepishly) Maybe you should take a walk.

SDWTB: Dude, do you even know this band? Can you even pronounce the name?

PSDW...TP: (in a mocking grade school argument voice, you know the one) Can you even pronounce the name? (returning to pretentious voice, and also conveniently avoiding saying the band name, for fear of actually mispronouncing it) Dude, I made the f-c-ing domain name for this band.

Annnnnd scene.

Whether true or not, plaid shirt dude played the indie nerd card that was pretty much the end of the interaction. I seriously doubt this guy created the domain name for Bon Iver, but whether he did or didn't is far from the point, as the entire interaction was an awesome display of the indie pretension one finds at a Bon Iver show, involving not only who "really knows" the band's music, but also who can correctly pronounce the band's name. And thankfully for you as much as me, this was a much better summation of the crowd in general than my typical ramblings about silly hats and headbands.

Oh right, I guess I should mention the music too. The overall show was flawless and went above and beyond my expectations in regard to regurgitating more than the recorded versions. In spite of the completeness and strength of For Emma, the band nonetheless finds just the right places in the live show to add harmonies, percussion, dissonance, whistles, bells, feeling and emphasis that elevate the live show to an experience that you won't find on youtube. Perhaps most notably of all, Bon Iver does the unthinkable by taking a packed house of people who are too cool to sing along and somehow gets almost all of them to participate in a singalong during "The Wolves (Act I and II)." Throughout, Vernon was quite the gracious host of the night's music, speaking with the audience in a very friendly manner, no doubt in such a way that he may unintentionally spur further insiderism from the indie crowd, as was displayed in the above interaction.

Given that I lean more toward the fan end of blogging than the journalist end, I don't have pictures from the show, but you can check out a close approximation of such (that is, from the Denver show) at I am Fuel, You are Friends, through her review of the previous nights' performance at the Ogden Theater.

Opening the show in both Denver and Boulder was The Wheel, a Denver band I was previously unfamiliar with. I've since come to find that they are a side project of sorts from a more long-time Denver act - Born in the Flood. (Admittedly, I never had a great familiarity with that band either.) In short, the Wheel performs at a level that I would say makes it hard to call them a side project. As is often the case with openers, I basically went in with the mindset that they were going to have to prove something to me if I was to like them, i.e. do something well above mediocre, and I think they did an impressive job of that. I know I spend as much time talking about how blogs already overload you with music and how none of us have time for that much new music, BUT if you're feeling adventurous, give "Early Spring Till" a try on their myspace. It takes a certain mood to get into this, but if it happens to catch you at the right time, it's a worthwhile listen.

Whether or not you could accurately pronounce Bon Iver or correctly spell the name of The Wheel frontman Nathaniel Rateliff turned out to be immaterial last night, as the music was everything a good indie fan could ever ask for (besides maybe a new silly headband).

Update: You can also check out the Denver Post's reviews of the Denver and Boulder shows, and also Wyoming Beat's review of the Boulder show. You know, if you like pictures and stuff.

Top 3 songs I listened to last week

1. "Mykonos" - Fleet Foxes
2. "Blood Bank" - Bon Iver
3. "Moment in the Sun" - Clem Snide