Dry the River – Everlasting Light
This was not the sound I was expected when I tuned in to the newest video from UK band Dry the River. My only experience with them had been catching them at the Spotify House a couple of years ago during SXSW, and that performance was stripped down and folky. The gloves are off with “Everlasting Light,” and while it’s a bit more aggressive, the push is not unwelcome.
“Half-convinced the singer of Vacationer is Kenny from The Starting Line.” I received this text from a friend who was at Spotify House last month during SXSW. It turns out she was totally right. M|H had featured Vacationer last year on the Summer Jams mixtape, completely unaware that it was fronted by Kenny Vasoli. Having been in love with The Starting Line for a number of years, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Vasoli’s new, beachy project when they opened for The Naked and Famous on April 14, 2012 at the Majestic Theater in Madison, Wisconsin.
As “the Eastern seaboard’s foremost relaxation specialists”, Vacationer is about more than just the music – it’s about the vibe as well. Vasoli kicked things off by telling the crowd, “this is like a big cuddle in music form.” While the band may have intended for the crowd to chill out, the audience had a different idea. Madisonians are a dance-y people; when we like what we hear, we’re going to move. Remarked Vasoli, “this may be our danciest show yet,” and, “we’re going to pick up the pace because you guys are great dancers and we want to take advantage of that.”
Playing a good portion of their debut album, Gone, singer Vasoli radiated joy throughout. From the bass thump of the earnest “Great Love” to the sweet longing of “Be With You” the message was love, love, love – and dancing. “The window to dance to our music is closing but that’s okay because the next one’s a banger. It’s called ‘Trip’.” While yielding more of a blissed-out sway than a body-shaking dip, it was high point of the band’s set.
For tour dates, a free download, or to book a trip of your own, visit Vacationer’s website.
Click either photo to see more shots from the show.
So, we had this wonderful plan to write this post with lots of beautifully-shot videos to supplement the mediocre camera-phone videos we posted last Monday. It’s proved to be difficult. Our hosting service only allows embedding from certain sites, and most of the videos aren’t found on the approved list. We posted what we could, and linked to the rest of what we wanted to show you. We apologize for the minor inconvenience of opening a new tab and hope you’ll take the time to click. A big thanks to Spotify and Dig for Fire for creating such wonderful concert spaces and videos, as well as DoStuff’s Justin Schaffer.
Yellow Ostrich – The Shakedown
Glen Hansard – Say It to Me Now
Grimes – Genesis
Vodpod videos no longer available.
SBTRKT
Vodpod videos no longer available.
A$AP Rocky – Peso
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Of Monsters and Men – Dirty Paws
PS – For an extra challenge, play spot the M|H editor. She’s in almost every one of these videos.
Mixtapes|Heartbreaks 