A Quick One While He’s Away

I was too impatient to wait and post these some other time so here are two disparate and yet equally exciting tidbits.

Firstly, Thom Yorke, of Radiohead fame, gave a very engaging interview on Pitchforkmedia today which is worth a read. I especially like his response to a question concerning whether he has been happier in the past couple of years. He replied, “When we played Bonnaroo we got such a nice vibe, a genuine good feeling from the first beat. Things like Bonnaroo give you the hope that you can do it the other way. I met Phish-- most of their people are involved in Bonnaroo. And it's great. I dream to take some of that vibe and take it around the country...and then Clear Channel trying to fucking shut the gate down.”

As a devout Bonnarooer it was great to hear such a positive statement, especially when he wasn’t even directly asked about the festival. What is so engaging about Bonnaroo is the level of commitment and passion people share for the music, and the artists realize and try to reward it. Immediately as Radiohead took the stage the fans responded with a lot of energy and the band fed on that energy and returned the favor by putting on an incredible set. That kind of give and take is what is missing from a lot of contemporary music and touring in which the band goes out, plays their two hits to raucous applause and then stumbles through the rest of their lesser known material with little crowd interaction. At Bonnaroo people congregate to hear music not hits, and I think the artists really appreciate that sentiment, I have never heard more “Thank yous” from bands than at the festival.

I also found a new artist that deserves a listen. Following in the footsteps of Fiona Apple, Feist and Regina Spektor, Annika Norlin a.k.a Hello Saferide combines idiosyncratic lyricism and uncomplicated compositions to make simple, beautiful music. Below is a video from her forthcoming EP Would you let me play this EP ten times a day, enjoy. To hear a couple more of her songs check out her myspace page.



P.S. Surprisingly Annika Norlin nor Hello Saferide has a Wikipedia entry. This is the first time I have tried to look up a band and the great wiki has been stumped.