Great Moments of 2011

It is humbling to say that most of my favorite moments this year I didn’t get on film. I actually have a habit of closing my eyes at all my favorite moments; I hear better with my eyes closed, to commit it to memory I lower my camera.

I saved this post for New Years Eve because for me the moments are all about connection. They are the parts in a show, in a night where it feels very personal. These seem good to talk about today when we are preparing to wrap up this year and start a new year full of promise.

Since it is the end of the year, a few thank yous to things started:
Thanks to Motorco and Pinhook for being my homes away from home. For all the great show, the great friendships, for understanding, for letting me help y’all with the lights, just thanks. Thanks to all the promotors and bookers who were excellent to me this year. Thanks for all the behind the scenes moments I got to see (and sometimes shoot) this year: soundchecks and rehersals and nervous fretting. Those of y’all who let me shoot or just be there for those moments, y’all know who you are and hopefully know how thankful I am. Thanks to everyone for the late night convos.
And, honestly, thanks to everyone who allowed me to shoot, who greeted me with hugs, who helped me really feel like I was exactly where I belonged.

So here is a list favorite moments at concerts in 2011 (this excludes all the shows I’ve already talked about this week). This isn’t a critical list or a ranked one. These are the moments where I happily closed my eyes and enjoyed.

• Birds & Arrows delivering a surprising and amazing set of Bruce Springsteen covers at 506 (1/7)
• Jesse Malin singing “Cigarettes and Violets” in his encore at Kings (1/16)
• Everytime Scotty jumped on stage to sing along at DTFH fest (Arliss Nancy, Mixtapes, I’m sure I’ve forgotten others) (1/20-1/22)
• Curtis Eller forcing the crowd at 506 into participating (1/29)
• Leaving for a family function after Free Electric State opened at Motorco (3/11) and arriving back in town to the tunes of Greenland is Melting at Fullsteam (3/13)
• J Roddy Walston standing on his piano at Kings(3/27)
• Returning from my sister’s wedding celebration to see Dave Hause play on the Pinhook back porch for me and about 15 of my friends.(4/25)
• Phil Cook, Christy Smith & Heather McEntire singing a song together at Motorco Garage (5/6)
• Standing on the front row right in front of Amy Klein at the Titus Andronicus show at the Cradle (6/1)
• JKutchma doing me the honor of playing my showw opening at Amplified Art (6/3)
• Roadside Graves playing “West Coast” at Slim’s (6/24)
• “Flashes & Cables”,Centro-matic, 506 (6/25)
• “Love Emergency”, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Motorco (7/6)
• Watching Whistling Dixie at Pinhook (7/11)
• Listening to Gillian Welch & David Rawlings in the light rain at NCMA (8/3)
• The show so loud I watched the liquor shake in the bottles behind the bar at Pinhook (8/18)
• Pretty much every set I saw at Slim’s during Hopscotch: JEFF the Brotherhood, Xray Eyeballs, the first JKutchma & the 5/5ths show, Last Year’s Men (9/8-9/10)
• The hurt I put on my brain by going from Liturgy at Kings to Mount Moriah at Berkeley (9/9)
• How I ended my Hopscotch: The Prayers & Tears, (run a couple city blocks), Des Ark, (run a couple city blocks), Bombadil, two Lost in the Trees songs, (rickshaw ride),Titus Andronicus. Perfect. (9/10)
• Pretty much the whole Low Anthem show at 506, this was my 11th favorite show this year, so close to perfect, it restored my attention span after Hopscotch, it was fantastic.(9/18)
• Standing in the hardest rain I’ve ever been in, head thrown back singing along to every word at Fleet Foxes at Raleigh Ampitheater (9/21)
• That was followed by changing outof soaked to the bone clothes and running into Pinhook to hear Midtown Dickens closeout the night with a stunningly good set (9/21)
• The crazy weekend where I tried to shoot every show in Durham (and nearly succeeded) flying from one venue to another, wonderful music at every turn (9/22-9/25)
• 2 covers off Nebraska in one night (one by BJ Barham, one by Micah Schnabel) at Slim’s (9/28)
• Wild Flag (10/21)
• Sitting next to my dad at a Mount Moriah show (10/22)
• Standing on a bar stool and hanging on to the bar to shoot the awesome of Restorations & Red Collar at the Cave (10/24)
• Both Prince covers YahZarah did at Casbah (10/28)
• Spider Bags w/ Reese McHenry at La Salamandra (10/28)
• Almost People covering Elway with Elway at Motorco (11/2)
• “Alex Kona”, Strand of Oaks, 506 (12/5)
• “Santa Fe”, Beruit, Cradle (12/8)
• “Measure of Me”, Amy Ray, Motorco (12/10)

Wow, what a year. I hope y’all ring it out with all the glory it deserves. And here’s to an even better 2012!

Links to all year end coverage:
Year End Concert Stats
Top Ten Albums of 2011
Twenty Favorite Photos of 2011
Ten Favorite Shows of 2011

10 Favorite Shows of 2011

If you know me or just see me at shows, you know I’m frequently wandering around, running between two shows, etc. I see alot of shows and the more shows I go to the harder it is for a full show bill to hold me from the first band to the last. These are the ones where I stood up front or was otherwise transfixed by the whole show. My 10 favorite shows of the year.

1. Joe Pug w/ Strand of Oaks, Local 506, 4/11 – It’s a very lucky thing that my favorite show of the year (and many others on this list) was also attended by the best taper in the area (Dan Schram) so I have this show on mp3 and can go back and listen again and again. Just a stunningly excellent show. So many of the shows on this list are special shows: album releases, first shows back, etc. The excellence of this show is even more amazing because it wasn’t a “special” show. It was another night on a long tour (for both bands). It’s the kind of show that makes me want to pack a bag and follow a tour around so I can see it every night. Photos here

2. Des Ark w/ Pygmy Lush, Bellafea, Nightlight, 3/10 – Des Ark’s CD is on my favorite albums of the year list so it is no surprise to see the local album release show here. Just a show with Des Ark full band likely would have put it on the list, but this was far more. The crowd was wonderful, Pygmy Lush’s set was great, and Bellafea was so fantastic to hear again. I love Mount Moriah, obviously (favorite album of the year, a Mount Moriah show is coming up on this list), but sometimes a Bellafea show is exactly what I need. It was the perfect kickstart to the night. Photos here

3. The Butchies w/ Pink Flag, Pinhook, 9/24 – Everything about this show. The weather was perfect for a huge celebratory show in the parking lot behind Pinhook, and that is exactly what this was. Both bands played fantastic sets to a great hometown crowd. Photos here

4.Mount Moriah w/ The Moaners & Filthybird, Cat’s Cradle, 4/15 – I feel like I’ve already said enough about how great Mount Moriah’s album is. The CD release show started with the three videos that are included with the album and ended with an all hands on-stage sing along of “Lament.” Start to finish, just a great night. Photos here

5. Bombadil w/ The Future Kings of Nowhere, JKutchma and the 5/5ths, Cat’s Cradle, 11/12 – Three bands I love on the same bill, a CD release show for Bombadil. Before even going to this show, I knew it’d end up on this list. So, for me, it had alot to live up to. And it more than did so. Photos here

6. Future Kings of Nowhere w/ Hammer No More the Fingers & The Wigg Report, Motorco, 5/7 – Photos here

7. Red Collar w/ American Aquarium, Casbah, 5/28 – Photos here

8. The Moaners w/ All Girl Boys Choir, Cave, 7/29 – Photos here

9. Pinhook’s 3-year anniversary 3-night concert (Men w/ Tayisha Busey, Crystal Antlers w/ Old Bricks, Free Electric State, Javelin w/ Organos), 11/3-11/5 – Photos here

10. Shirlette and the Dynamite Brothers, Duke Gardens, 6/29 – Photos here

Links to all year end coverage:
Year End Concert Stats
Top Ten Albums of 2011
Twenty Favorite Photos of 2011
Great Moments of 2011

Lucero, 12/27/11

Lucero, Ziggy’s, Winston-Salem NC, 12/27/11, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

So nice to be able to plan my trip home from the holidays so that I could stop in Winston-Salem and see Lucero play at Ziggy’s.

It had been entirely too long and it was wonderful to see them again.

There was some really good light at the venue so the full photo set is certainly worth a look.

20 Favorite Photos of 2011

This isn’t about my most techically perfect photos, or the most sale-able, or the most viewed. Those lists would all look very different. These are my favorite concert photos I took this year. It’s an interesting question for me because I shot more this year for other people or with the intent to cover a show in a more traditional press photo sense. But those photos aren’t here.
If I had to pick 20 photos to remember my year in concerts by, it would be these 20.

1/7, The Tomahawks, Local 506

1/21, Maple Stave, DTFH Fest, Fullsteam

1/27, Tea & Tempests, Pinhook

2/5, HNMTF, WKNC Double Barrel, Kings

3/8, Motorco Garage

3/9, X-Ray Eyeballs, Pinhook

4/14, Pink Flag, Motorco

5/2, FKoN, Motorco

5/28, Red Collar, Casbah

6/4, Lurch, Save the Scrap Exchange, Casbah

6/17, Onward Soldiers, Motorco

7/6, HGTR, Motorco

7/10, Midtown Dickens, Pinhook

8/6, Red Collar, Motorco

9/9, Last Years Men, Hopscotch, Slim’s

9/10, Hopscotch, Raleigh City Plaza

10/25, Cave

11/3, Tayisha Busay, Pinhook

11/12, Bombadil, Cradle

12/8, Beirut, Cradle

Links to all year end coverage:
Year End Concert Stats
Top Ten Albums of 2011
Ten Favorite Shows of 2011
Great Moments of 2011

Top Ten Albums of 2011

I’m still on holiday, so to test out this list and make sure I’m good with it, I made a playlist of one song from each album and am playing it in my mom’s den with her listening in, offering her opinions, it’s an interesting way to get final feedback on a list.

Looking at the list, the genres represented are interesting, and suprisingly well grouped: 1-2 lyrically and sonicly rich delicate albums, 3-5 punkish albums, 6-8 post rock & other atmospheric albums, 9 country with a punk-ish flare, 10 indie-folk/indie-pop. I saw 8 out of the 10 bands play this year. There is only one I’ve never seen live.

1. Mount Moriah – Mount Moriah – After I bought this album at the CD release, I put it on for the car ride home and listened with the windows down. I arrived at my house on a cool night with owls hooting in the background and listened to the last tracks there in the drive, unable to turn off the car before the album’s end. It was the perfect first listen for the album. And since then it has, easily, been the album that I’ve listened to and loved the most this year. Every time I listen I find a new turn of phrase or string of notes to lose myself in. Just gorgeous. Best local album of the year; my favorite album of the year. Stand out song: Everyone else will say “Lament” or “The Reckoning”, I’ll go with “Plane.”

2. The Low Anthem – Smart Flesh – The thing I keep coming back to about this album is how it creates space. You can hear the deep breath at the end of a phrase, the echo of sound. The album cover and posters were beautifully letter pressed and have a beautifully tactile deminisions. Complete fitting for this album where you really feel like you can almost run your hand over the sounds. Just stunning. Stand out track: “Ghost Woman Blues”

3. Restorations – Restorations – I haven’t seen this album on many end of year list, mores the pity, because it is freaking stellar. Can You See The Sunset, one of the few blogs to list the album simply said “Resto-fucking-rations! Is it post-hardcore? Is it Americana? Is it indie-pop? Yes.” That’s pretty much it. Punk rock for people who don’t listen to much punk anymore. Literate, smart, driving, wonderful. Stand out track: “When Your Older”

4. Dave Hause – Resolutions – Dave Hause’s voice reminds me of all my favorite parts of living in the Mid-Atlantic, not nearly enough to want to move back there, but it’s a good reminder. There are so many punk rock folks making folk-ish americana-ish albums that it seems almost too worn, that you forget the real beauty of the genre. This is an album that will make you remember why it works. Great backing band, beautiful songs, just great. Stand out track: “Time Will Tell” or “C’mon Kid”

5. Des Ark – Don’t Rock The Boat, Sink The Fucker – The first time I listened to this album, I couldn’t really hear it as an album, great songs but I couldn’t find the thread. The more I listened, though, the more I fell for the tracking, the way the songs play off each other and play with tempo and dissonance from one song to another and within each song. The whole albums works like a single song, rewarding many listens. Stand out track: “Bonne Chance Asshole”

6. The Besnard Lakes – You Live In The City – It’s only a 4 song EP. And it’s perfect. If you’ve been looking at my favorite albums lists for a while, you know I love this band. Thier album The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse was my favorite album of 2007: dark and rich and apocolyptic. In this 2011 album they take a turn for the peaceful. This is the best soundtrack for getting lost in headlights and a cool sky on a narrow road. This is the only album on the list where I’ve never seen the band playlive. I’d drive at least 100 miles todo so, with this EP playing all the way there. Stand out track: “Some Colour in the Sky”

7. Explosions in the Sky – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care – The one thing that I still think Exposions in the Sky does better than any other post-rock band is the slow build. There is a moment and a tension in each track of building until that last piece comes in, and every time that last piece slides into place it feels like peace. Always so beautiful. Stand out track: “Be Comfortable, Creature”

8. All Tiny Creatures- Harbors – All Tiny Creatures is all my favorite things about post-roock and all my favorite things about indie-pop in one beautiful atmospheric swirl. It’s music I get lost in. What really makes it work for me are the close repetitions, the short loops, that create a drone, a static, almost, in the back of the tracks. Stand out track: “Cargo Maps”

9. Austin Lucas – At Home In This World – I don’t understand why Austin Lucas isn’t a multimillionaire, winning armfuls of CMA awards every year, and playing to giant stadiums of country music fans. If country music is going to improve then this is the way to do it. I could play this whole album for my grandfather and it’d slide right into his collection between the Sunday Morning Singing and the banjo based secular country. Stand out track: “Darkness Out Of Me”

10. Bombadil – All The Rain Promises – Look, I’m 130% biased about this band. I love them. That they managed to make a followup to Tarpits and Canyonlands at all is amazing, that it is delightful and sparse and lovely is an added bonus. Listening to their albums straight through, it is obvious how much they’ve grown as people and as musicians and it is a joy to listen to. Stand out track: “I Will Wait”

Links to all year end coverage:
Year End Concert Stats
Twenty Favorite Photos of 2011
Ten Favorite Shows of 2011
Great Moments of 2011