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The third song I played tonight was Bird Priest by Ratatat. Ratatat is a personal favorite of the GC student population and I actually wrote an article in our school newspaper about a bunch of students attending this concert at Calvin College. I’ve included that below for your reading pleasure!

50 Goshen College students attend Ratatat concert

Ratatat is a music duo comprised of Evan Mast on synthesizer, and Mike Stroud on guitar. An additional member, Eric Mast, Evan’s brother, joined Ratatat on stage Saturday night. Eric’s own band, E*Rock, opened for Ratatat, as well as the band Panther. Goshen College students had mixed feelings about the opening bands. Hannah Schlabaugh explained that, “E*Rock had great visuals, but bizarre and repetitive music.” Others thought that both opening bands had tasteful sets, but the ultimate highlight of the night was the anticipated and danceable band Ratatat. When asked about the concert, Jacob Brenneman quoted that Ratatat “laid some gnar beats and we [Goshen College students] all got funky.” Funky would be an accurate description of the dancing, supernatural music, and hypnotic visual projections the audience experienced Saturday night.

Ratatat, performing Goshen students favorites from their 2006 album Classics, as well as new pieces from their July release LP3, gathered the audience together in an intimate setting of dancing, moving the audience away from the confinement of stationary seats into a much broader dance domain. “Each of us were in our own little dance world, where we were just free to dance to the music however we wanted to dance, yet everyone was in that auditorium together, dancing as a whole,” explained Lauren Morales. She also commented on the visual effect of the concert: “Overall it was very stimulating, both visually and audibly. Those two things together made it such a sweet experience.”

“It was crazy seeing so many Goshen College students at one concert,” said Clayton Matthews. The turnout of fifty Goshen College students was in fact an impressive number. Why did this concert draw such a large Goshen crowd compared to other concerts in the area? “It’s Goshen College dance music!” Allison Yoder explained. Chase Snyder elaborated with, “It’s unique, electronic music with a funky twist.” Derek Swartz also added that the electronic indie music of Ratatat is what is current and popular: “In ten years we’ll probably look back at this music and think it really stinks. But right now, it is what is in.”

While fellow students understand Ratatat’s significance on campus, a much wider audience is also aware of what Ratatat means to Goshen College students thanks to the nationally syndicated program The World Café. On June 28th the NPR program, hosted by David Dye, broadcasted Ratatat’s new album LP3. When discussing the band, Dye explained that whenever he goes places, he always asks for new music. A couple years ago Dye visited Goshen College’s radio station, WGCS, and the students suggested he listen to Ratatat. During his June 28th broadcast Dye was quoted saying, “The students in Goshen asked me if I knew Ratatat. I didn't. In fact, I didn't even know if they were a local Goshen band or what. This is a time when the burned CD someone gives me proves to be one of my favorites, and I have been in love with this instrumental mostly electronic band ever since.” Thanks to Goshen students, Ratatat received national coverage on NPR, and it is now known everywhere that Goshen students are fans of Ratatat.

The overall consensus made by students was that Ratatat put on an incredible and energetic live show. Dan Adams concluded wishfully, “It would be sweet if we could have bands like Ratatat come to Goshen College.” So perhaps next time we can see Ratatat in our own back yard. But no matter what, we’ll always have “Seventeen Years,” the song lovingly received as Ratatat’s final encore piece, as our Goshen College student dance song.

Cara Beth Satalino was a new artist I discovered this week. Check out her MySpace website at myspace.com/carabeth

“This weeks “Eight O’Clock Double Shot” feature was Ben Folds, with his new album Way To Normal. I played my favorite off of this album, Cologne, as well as the song Brainwasch.

Goodbye Eventide
If you caught my show last week, then you know that I'm traveling about in Europe for the month of August, therefore I'm unavailable to do Eventide on air. I'm sorry for the inconvenience this is for those die-hard eventide fans, but don't worry, I'll come back from Europe with a whole load of new, exciting music! It'll be worth it... really. So, see you in September!
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I went to the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago held at Union Park, August 19th-20th. Some of the groups I played on today's show were bands I saw at the festival such as M. Ward, Spiritualized, Bon Iver, Spoon, and Caribou. Photos below are all from the Pitchfork Festival that weekend.
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Eventide Euphony Playlist: July 17, 2008

Mystery Jets – Two Doors Down

Katie Herzig – Hologram

Eastern Conference Champions – The Box

Lisa Mitchell – Neopolitan Dreams

Pacific! – Break You Social System

Goldfrapp – Caravan Girl

Does It Offend You, Yeah! – Epic Last Song

Santogold – Lights Out

Clocks – Old Valve Radio

Jack Conte - COver of Radiohead and Chopin

Coldplay - Lovers in Japan

Deerhunter – Microcastle

Elf Power – Paralyzed

STS9 – Beyond Right Now

CSS – Left Behind

CSS – Rat Is Dead

Jim Noir – Ships and Clouds

Martha Wainwright – Bleeding All Over You

Jose Gonzalez – Time to Send Someone Away

Ratatat – Falcon Jab

Citizen Cope – Appetite (For Lightin’ Dynamite)

Islands – Two Dogs

Youth Group – Two Sides

Dr. Dog – The Rabbit, The Bat, and The Reindeer

The Oatmeal Conspiracy – Stephen

Brazilian Girls – All About Us

M83 – Kim and Jesse

Magnet – Lonely No More

Extra Artist/Song Information:

I have all sorts of interesting information about the band Does It Offend You, Yeah? They’re a British electro-rock band who have often been compared to dance bands such as Daft Punk and Justice, but on the spectrum they’ve been compared to other bands like Muse, Rage against the Machine, and !!! due to their heavy live sound. They’ve even remixed songs for Muse and Bloc Party, as well as other bands.

Now this is where it starts getting pretty interesting… you may ask, what is up with this bands name? Does it Offend you, Yeah? So apparently their name came from the British sitcom, The Office (in case you didn’t know, The Office was FIRST a British show before it ever came to the U.S.). The synth player of the band, Dan Coop, has been quoted explaining that "Everybody thinks the name is some kind of statement but it's a quote from David Brent in an episode of 'The Office'. "When me and James Rushent first started writing music together we decided to put it up on MySpace. We needed a name to put as our profile name so just put what was the first thing that was said on TV, we switched it on and Ricky Gervais said 'Does it offend you, yeah? My drinking?' so we just went with that. No thought went into it whatsoever."

Does It Offend You, Yeah? Is even opening for Nine Inch Nails for their 2008 North American Tour!

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I played a Radiohead/Chopin mix made by the artist Jack Conte which I personally think is pretty awesome. Who would have thought to put those two together anyway? Check out Jack Conte's MySpace HERE! for a couple free downloads of his work, plus more information on his music.

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“This weeks “Eight O’Clock Double Shot” band is CSS, or Cansei de Ser Sexy which literally translates into "I got tired of being sexy" in Brazilian Portuguese. They actually got that name from a quote by the artists Beyonce who reportedly said she was “tired of being sexy.” Usually my Double Shot band is a band who has released an album the same week of my show, but CSS only released a single, “Left Behind” this Monday, July 14th, and I was so excited about the release of the single that I decided to just use it for the show. The actual album called “Donkey” is to come out July 28th, less than two weeks from now (and maybe I’ll have to use the actual album for my double shot in two weeks... who knows!). The two songs I’m playing for you are both singles from their “Donkey” album. One is called “The Rat Is Dead” and the other is “Left Behind.”

The Brazilian band, comprised of a group of friends, formed in 2003. They essentially gained fame on the Internet, posting their music on different sites such as Trama Virtual, a Spanish site similar to MySpace. Trama Virtual became very interested in CSS and started asking British and Brazilian journalists to see their shows and write-up reports about them. Peter Culshaw, a reporter of the British newspaper The Guardian, predicted that CSS “could be the biggest band ever to come out of South America.” CSS was also featured in some main-stream media such as the Brazilian versions of The Simple Life, Big Brother, and “Computer Heat,” which is the Brazilian version of the computer game The Sims. In 2004 they released two independent EPs. In 2006 they signed with the Trama Virtual label, and then in October of that year they had their first, self-titled album released in Brazil. Also in 2006, CSS signed with Sub Pop Records to release their International debut album, and up to February 2007 they sold 60,000 copies of their album in the U.S. and Europe.

If you fell in love with CSS after hearing them on Eventide, you have the opportunity to see them live at Lollapalooza this summer on August 1st, at 8:00 PM. Also, I have a photo of one of their live performances at the bottom of this post that you can check out if you’re interested. I hope you enjoyed this weeks “Eight O’clock Double Shot!”

Eventide Euphony Playlist: July 10, 2008

Val Emmich – Get On With It

The Submarines – You, Me, & The Bourgeoisie

Scott Reynolds and The Steaming Beast – Tracy Hardman’s Cheek

Pacha Massive – Don’t Let Go

Matthew Dear - Pom Pom

Of Montreal - Jimmy

Mr. Gnome - Pirates

M83 – Graveyard Girl

Carbon Silicon – The News

Lykke Li – I’m Good, I’m Gone

Nada Surf – See These Bones (Live Version)

Laura Veirs – Where Gravity Is Dead

Grantura – Waves

Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – The Lottery

Groove Armada - Dusk, You, and Me

Alabama 3 - Woody Guthrie

Alabama 3 - Ska'd For Life

The Watson Twins – How Am I To Be

Laura Marling – Cross Your Fingers

Citizen Cope – If There’s Love

Michael Franti & Spearhead – Hello Bonjour

The Weepies – All This Beauty

Joe Pug – Hymn #101

Fink – So Long

Cara Beth Satalino - Lullaby

Eisley – Like The Actors

Sia – The Girl You Lost To Cocaine

Extra Artist/Song Information:

Alabama 3, known as A3 in the United States (the band Alabama sued over Alabama 3’s name, therefore in the U.S. they are A3), is this week’s “Eight O’Clock Double Shot.” Their album, “Hits and Exit Wounds” was released in England April 7th of this year, but it was just released here in the states this past Tuesday. I just discovered them this past weekend at the Rothbury Music Festival held in Rothbury, Michigan. In the media room where I was blogging for The Globe I met another blogger who really wanted to go hear A3 because he had heard such good things about the group. I decided to tag along and was quite happy I did. There live show was quite phenomenal, not to mention theatrical! The entire crowd was dancing and there was a steady flow of listeners getting closer and closer to the stage, intrigued by this slightly bizarre British band.

The group began in London in the ‘90s, meeting each other by mere coincidences and beginning what has now become A3. According to the AllMusic biography, the group “set out about creating an agenda of Americana, electronica, leftists politics, and laughter,” and they truly all have those strange elements mixed into a great sound. Essentially the band is a mixture of gospel, country, blues, and house/dance music, and as AllMusic puts it so well, “Alabama 3 broke down the barriers between line dancers and ravers.”

Read the article on AllMusic.com for a complete A3 biography.

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Citizen Cope and Michael Franti & Spearhead were two groups that I was able to see at two different eTown Radio Show tapings at the Rothbury Festival. I knew of both groups but was not particularily familiar with the music. Both their performances at the eTown taping really made me want to get to know them and their music a little bit better! And I was actually able to go backstage and meet both artists. I have photos of Zach Miller and I with Michael Franti at the bottom of this entry if you’re interested.

Michael Franti & Spearhead were phenomenal, and that is not an exaggeration. All their music was touching, moving, and got you off your chairs and onto the dance floor. The band blends hip hop with quite a few other musical styles such as funk, jazz, rock, folk, and reggae. Many of their songs have a political or passionate feel to them as Michael Franti himself is a very outspoken supporter for many different peace and social justice issues.

I played a song off their 2006 album, “Yell Fire!,” but they have a scheduled album to come out September of this year that will be called “All Rebel Rockers.”

Citizen Cope also had a pretty incredible eTown performance at Rothbury. Like Franti, Citizen combines a lot of different styles of music such as folk, blues, reggae, hip hop, rock, and R&B. His music has been featured on TV a lot on different programs such as One Tree Hill and CSI Miami, and it was even used as a Pontiac car ad. I played a pretty old song off his first album titled Citizen Cope that came out in 2002. His most recent album is from 2006 and it’s titled “Every Waking Moment.” Rumors say he’s going to come out with an album this year, but it’s not certain. At the eTown show he talked about going on a solo tour this fall, so keep your ears (or eyes) out for that.

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I must admit that I do not always discover the music I love. For the most part, I’m the one handing out albums and letting people know of the latest music I love, but every now and then my sister gives me a pretty awesome group that I have never heard of. This weeks show features 3 of these groups: The Weepies, Fink,and Joe Pug.

The Weepies I have known for a while now and even played them on a show back in May. A review on About.com written by Kim Ruehl described the Weepies music as "subtly intoxicating folk-pop". It’s a two-person band consisting of the married couple of Deb Talan and Steve Tannen. Their album “Hideaway” was released in April of this year and it was all recorded at their home.

Fink is an English singer-songwriter, producer and DJ from Brighton, England. He grew up in a musical household with a father as a folk musician, and his mother a music manager. His song “So Long” that I played on this weeks show is off his 2006 album “Biscuits for Breakfast,” but since he has recorded one other album that was released in 2007 and is called “Distance and Time.” Fink’s myspace has more information as well as more songs you can listen to.

Joe Pug is from Chicago, as is my sister, hence her letting me know about her discovery of this great musican. According to the Chicagoist, "Pug is the real deal. The kid’s got that weariness in his delivery that you can’t smoke or drink your way to because it comes from somewhere deeper than the vocal chords. It’s the same gritty, spirited voice that made Hank I, Kurt Cobain, and Bob Dylan iconic, and we as Chicagoans will be privileged enough to watch the kid develop from precocious youngster to out and out star." You can check out his myspace here .

Well, if you've been listening the radio, or if you caught my Eventide last week, you know that I won't be on this week. But that shouldn't stop you from listening to The Globe! Zach Miller and I are going to be sending live updates from the Rothbury festival so you can keep up to date on the artists and events we're seeing there. Also, we'll be blogging our adventures online so check that out as well.

I hope you have a wonderful Thursday night... without Eventide Euphony.
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3) The Hush Sound – The Boys Are Too Refined (3:14); Goodbye Blues (Mar.18,2008)

5) Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly – Waiting For The Monster To Drown (2:46); Searching for the Hows and Whys (March 10, 2008)

11) Regina Spektor – The Call (3:04); From The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Soundtrack (2008)

14) The Notwist – Where In This World (4:39); The Devil, You + Me (June 17, 2008)

24) Angus & Julia Stone – Here We Go Again (4:58); A Book Like This (March 31,2008)

25) Laura Marling – Cross Your Fingers (2:24); Alas, I Can Not Swim ( Feb2008)

27) Coldplay – Viva La Vida (4:01); Viva La Vida or Death and all His Friends (June 17, 2008)

28) The Submarines – You, Me, & The Bourgeoisie (3:20); Honey Suckle Weeks (2008)

Sweden has become a breeding ground for female Indie pop artists to grow out of. On this weeks show I featured three of these Swedish up-and-coming artists: Anna Ternheim,El Perro del Mar, and Lykke Li.

• Anna Ternheim is a new face in the U.S., but she has a very successful career in Sweden, already winning several Swedish Grammy awards. I played her song “To Be Gone” which is off her first official full-length release in the U.S. called Halfway To Fivepoints. If you would like a free download of this song, check it out here.
• El Perro Del Mar, whose actual name is Sara Assbring, is already pretty well known internationally. Her voice almost sounds like a 60s girl type of sound. She had a new release come out titled, How Did We Forget? But I actually played a song, “Here Comes That Feeling,” off of her 2006 self-titled album, El Perro del Mar.
• Lykke Li is the most pop-py artist of all three Swedish women. I chose to play her song “Tonight” because it was the first demo she ever put up of her work. This one was on her MySpace for a while, and now one can download it for free at her website online. I also played “Little Bit” off her 2008 album Youth Novel.

The German band The Notwist was this weeks “Eight O’clock Double Shot” featured band. Although their album, The Devil, You + Me, has been leaked on the Internet since April, the actual release date for this album wasn’t until this past Tuesday, June 17th, 2008. In fact, I actually gave everyone a little preview of this album on my May 29th show by playing the album’s opening track, “Good Lies.” The album has 11 tracks and is quite a bit different from the Notwist’s previous work. Originally, they were a “scraggly post-hardcore” band, slowly reaching into the streamlined melodic post-hardcore world, and then into abstract electronics, and then with their latest album, “the Notwist delivered a smart and song-oriented synthesis of the organic and synthetic on Neon Golden,” according to the AllMusic.com article written about this release. Finally, six years later, after members worked on their own outside projects, the band has released The Devil, You + Me. This album isn’t extremely different from their last, “Neon Golden,” yet it has a more mature sound. The members also decided to add some new elements such as the incorporation of the 21-member Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra, as you could hear from “Where In This World,” the second Notwist song I played on this show. I also played the third track on the album, “Gloomy Planets,” which I personally was attracted to for it’s melancholy-ness (I don’t believe that’s even a word...) and that it’s overall very easy to listen to.

•Check out The Notwist’s Website: www.notwist.com
•Click here for The Notwist’s MySpace and a sample of their music!
•You can take a look at what Pitchfork Media thought of the album through this review.

Two Additional June 17th Releases:
The Notwist wasn’t the only band to come out with awesome albums this week. Both Tilly and the Wall and Coldplay came out with albums on June 17th of this week as well. I played two songs from both of these albums.

FREE CD GIVEAWAY!: This week I’m playing the song “Second Brain” by one of my favorite artists, Kaki King, and I’m actually giving away her 2006 album, ...Until We Felt Red. I’ve played some of her work before on Eventide, but this week I decided to play some older work from where she originated her sound. This album has been used here at The Globe, but it’s still in good condition, and heck... it’s free! Plus she’s a great artist. So when you hear your cue, call in! 574-535-7488

Feisty Stevens – The Zombies Are Inside out!!! is a mix/mash-up created by the masterful Kevan Gilbert. Gilbert took Feist’s cover of the Bee Gee’s song called “Inside Out,” which was featured on her “Let it Die” album and mixed it with Sufjan Stevens song “Illinois.” In my opinion it in an incredible mix! Who would have thought to mix the two? And who would have thought it would produce such a marvelous sound? If you want more information about this mix, check out this website: http://kev.elbowroomdesign.com/45/feist-sufjan-stevens-a-mash-up-about-zombies/

This weeks “Eight O’clock Double Shot” featured My Morning Jacket with their newly released album “Evil Urges.” My Morning Jacket was formed in Louisville, Kentucky back in 1998. Four years later the signed with ATO Records and produced 4 albums. Evil Urges, released this week on June 10th, and it’s their 5th studio album. According to Jim James, the lead songwriter and singer, the band wanted to get away from their usual rock and rolls sounds and sound more like they do in live shows. I experienced seeing My Morning Jacket live at Lollapalooza the summer of 2006 and they definitely have a more “funky” sound with their music in live settings. I personally think they’ve grown quite a bit from their other albums and I enjoy the work on this album. Some of it is still a bit too rock’ n roll for me, and all of it doesn’t fit in with the “alternative” type of music I usually play on Eventide, but overall I think it’s a well put together album and My Morning Jacket are overall a great band. The two songs I played for the “Eight O’clock Double Shot” were “Librarian” and “Evil Urges.” If you missed them on the show, I recommend checking them out!

I played both Rogue Wave’s “California” and Death Cab for Cutie’s “Cath...” because I was lucky enough to attend the Death Cab concert in Chicago on June 3rd at Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion. The California band Rogue Wave opened for Death Cab and did a pretty great job. I wasn’t extremely familiar with them before hand, but after hearing and seeing them live I decided they were deserving enough to get played on Eventide this week. Death Cab, as always, was brilliant. Ben Gibbard, the lead singer, bounced around the stage as usual and the crowd was wild for them. “Cath...” is from their newest album that was just released May 13th.

Eventide Euphony Blog

50 Goshen College students attend Ratatat concert