Unlike past efforts, the overall tempo of this album has noticeably decreased. The number of “slow songs” or slow-building songs on the album is much more apparent than it has been before. Opening track “Obvious Bicycle” is one such song, with keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij playing a melancholy piano riff over lead singer Ezra Koenig’s crooning voice as he bounces to and from falsettos. Of all the mellow songs on the album, “Step” stands out, with Koenig’s soothing vocals over a medley of piano and synthesizer progressions. Drummer Chris Tomson keeps the beat so strong and steady throughout the track that head-nodding or foot-tapping is impossible to avoid.

Tomson shifts about five gears up for the following song, “Diane Young” — a track that, along with the speedy rhythm of “Finger Back,” would be easily at home in either of the other VW records. Single “Diane Young” feels like a modern-day adaption of the swingin’ big band songs, with Koenig pitch-shifting the lyric “baby, baby, baby, baby right on time” over groovy guitar riffs and rapid-fire drums. There’s even a “Wipeout”-esque drum and guitar roll thrown in — just in case your head and hips weren’t shaking enough.

Modern Vampires of the City is the album that VW has been building up to. While it’s not always a constant ball of energy, the balance of warm melodies and funky riffs make for an appropriate and satisfying conclusion to the band’s trilogy.

Ian Birnam covers music. Contact him at ibirnam@dailycal.org.

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Sweet HayaH will be at the Boom Boom Room in SF on May 7.

Ian Birnam covers music. Contact him at ibirnam@dailycal.org.

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Check out his playlist below.

Ian Birnam covers music. Contact him at ibirnam@dailycal.org.

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In addition to the fab Sir Paul, Willie Nelson will be jamming at the festival as well with his family, providing another 70′s legend in the mixture of the modern music giants. In addition to the aforementioned bands, Jurassic 5, Vampire Weekend, The National, Pretty Lights, and The Head and the Heart will all be playing as well.

More recent up and comers will be there as well, such as Tallest Man on Earth, Grizzly Bear and Atlas Genius will all be performing off the coattails of their recent(ish) album releases. The festival will also feature some prominent local acts such as Thao & The Get Down Stay Down.

I could go on for awhile about how incredible this year’s lineup is. I could go on about how producer/DJ legend Zedd will be there to the adoration of electro-junkies, or how Flea will melt the crowd’s faces off with funky bass slaps, or how Trent Reznor will undoubtedly shred the microphone with his voice. But each artist on the bill could have an entire blog post dedicated to them. Instead, if you can’t wait for August to come, you’d be best served to snag the next round of tickets when they go on sale this Thursday.

Ian Birnam covers music. Contact him at ibirnam@dailycal.org.

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The band has been compared to a combination of the Postal Service and Smashing Pumpkins, though I would throw in vocals and vocal harmonies that are akin to Mumford and Sons. One such track where those particular vocals stand out is in “The GLOW,” which can be heard below:

Ian Birnam covers music. Contact him at ibirnam@dailycal.org.

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The group opened up with “The Cell,” a slow building beat that begins with flutes and a steady beat that eventually drops into a heavy session of scratching synth, vocal and drum sounds. Not only could these guys get the crowd dancing and jumping from the front to the back, but they were active on stage, a key aspect that many DJ/turntablist acts can sometimes miss. They jammed out and rocked with the beat, freestyled some scratching and vocally interacted with the crowd. The scene got even more intense when the four DJs split into opposing pairs to do a crowd-judged DJ battle. The group even stepped in front of their rigs to rap to a cover of the Beastie Boys classic, “Intergalactic” in tribute to the late MCA.

Audio aside, one of the most engaging aspect of C2C’s performance was their use of animations displayed on the front of their rigs. Most of the animations involved the manipulation of geometric shapes that were manipulated in real-time to correspond with the scratching the DJs did with their tracks. In addition to viewing a variety of 2D and 3D geometric movements, the group also had multi-colored cartoon mouths singing the lyrics to their single “Down the Road,” which were again manipulated to correspond to the audio manipulation.

As the crowd left the venue, stumbling into the midnight streets of SF with ears ringing, it was clear that C2C had accomplished their goal. There wasn’t a person who hadn’t jumped, danced, or bobbed to the bombastic beats and mixes from the French scratch-masters, proving that the power of the turntable can stand its own, converting naysayers (like myself) into beat freaks.

Ian Birnam covers music. Contact him at ibirnam@dailycal.org.

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Daily Californian: Even today, many people don’t see DJs as “real” musicians. How would you defend your case to someone who thinks live guitars and drums are the only way to play music?

DJ Atom: The thing is, you have to make a difference between a DJ spinning tracks, making a DJ set (what we like to do as well) and a turntablist using the turntable as an instrument. What we do with C2C is that we play our own music with our instrument: the turntable. Musically, it’s just like a “real” band: One of us plays the bass, one is on the drums, the other got the guitar and the last one controls the voice. We’re transforming the use of an object which wasn’t made for creating music on the first basis, just as a New Orleans washboard player would do.

DC: You guys move and bounce around at shows. Most DJs aren’t as active onstage as you guys. What inspired you guys to be different in that regard?

DA: It’s just that if you’re on stage, in front of a crowd, it seems obvious to try to entertain and interact with the people. Scratching DJs are normally used to practicing in their bedroom in front of a wall, so I guess the “showmanship” part of the thing doesn’t come first, but it’s so important!

DC: There are mixed feelings about dubstep within your group. From both sides, why or why not do you like dubstep?

DA: Dubstep can be the best and the worst at the same time. Coming from hip-hop, we all love fat beats, big basses and surprising sounds and patterns, and the double-timed groove is so pleasant for scratching practices, but on the other hand, we’re not really digging the eurodance and crappy commercial part of dubstep, as it can sound sometimes. Plus, now in 2013, this style of music has been quite overexposed.

DC: Your beats encompass a wide variety of music and mixes from all over the world. Could you talk about the diversity of your tracks and what influences your creative process?

DA: When we used to enter DJ championships, the only material we had was our record collections. We were digging samples, so it didn’t really matter the style of music; the most important was to find the good sound. We’re also very inspired by the way ’90s hip-hop beatmakers used to work, finding samples from all different kinds of music and mixing it with other ingredients, beats, basses, scratches to create something new. The digging culture is really what opened us to a wide variety of music.

DC: How many of your samples do you make yourself? How do you feel about creating your own samples? Do you feel it adds more personality to the tracks?

DA: On this album, we really wanted to make something personal and original, but the “beatmaking” culture is also fully part of our creative process, so the thing was to create our own music but trying to make it sound like samples. For example, on “Down the Road,” we recorded the guitars and dobro with a very good blues guitarist, using the right guitar with the right amp and playing the right way.

DC: Could you discuss the animations you use during live shows? Who makes them? How do you go about figuring out which animation to use for each song?

DA: We actually scratch and manipulate audio and video simultaneously with our turntables during the live shows. We have animated shapes on the screens which correspond to each sound we use to recreate the song live. At the end of the day, you have a perfect video illustration of the music. We imagined and drew the visuals by ourselves, and we met this amazing motion designer called Remi Paoli who made all the animations. We’re using the video plugin for Serato Scratch Live, which allows us to load not only audio files but audio-video files (.mov, .avi) in the software and scratch and manipulate it as much as we want in real time.

DC: What do you think it means to be a DJ? Is it a matter of choosing vinyl over MP3? What do you think it takes to scratch with the best?

DA: I don’t think vinyl/CD/MP3 is really the point, to me. Being a DJ is all about messing with tracks and real/virtual turntables. Whether you’re doing a DJ set, a DMC routine, a beat or a live show, I guess the main thing is to have fun, be original and do your thing.

Of course, on the technical side, practicing is also the key, as it is to master every instrument.

Ian Birnam covers music. Contact him at ibirnam@dailycal.org.

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Ian Birnam covers music. Contact him at ibirnam@dailycal.org.

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“The Big Lebowski” at UA Berkeley
This Thursday, the Coen brothers’ classic film “The Big Lebowski” will be playing at UA Berkeley. For those who somehow haven’t seen this cult comedy, a (somewhat) younger Jeff Bridges plays a bowling slacker known as “The Dude,” who is mistaken for a millionare with the same name. The millionaire then enlists The Dude and his friends to deliver the ransom to the kidnappers of the millionaire’s trophy wife. The only thing that could make this flashback Thursday better would be some complimentary White Russians to go with the film.

First Friday at Awaken Cafe
First Friday is a free music and art event that occurs the first Friday of every month at Awaken Cafe in Oakland. This Friday, UC Berkeley student Jackie Farkas will exhibit her abstract oil paintings, “Soul Senses.” I––n addition to viewing Farkas’ work, attendees will also be able to watch local bands Mister Loveless, Mr. Kind and Halcyonaire play throughout the night as well.

Ghostface Killah at 1015 Folsom
What pairs well with “The Big Lebowski” you ask? Wu-Tang, obviously. Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah will be playing at 1015 Folsom in San Francisco this Thursday as part of the Twelve Ways to Die tour. Adrian Younge will also be performing his new EP Venice Dawn in its entirety. Enjoy some drinks with your hip-hop,
as the event is 21+.

Ian Birnam covers music. Contact him at ibirnam@dailycal.org.

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The already lively crowd perked up even more when the ecstatic duo Matt & Kim jumped onto the stage. With tracks spanning their last three albums, the duo wrecked the crowd with tracks like the mosh pit inducing “Now” and their classic break out hit “Daylight.” The duo also threw in The Harlem Shake, “Move Bitch (Get Out The Way),” and a slew of other mini-mixes in between songs. A Matt & Kim show wouldn’t be complete though without a booty dance from Kim atop the hands of the crowd.

After the pop tunes and sex jokes, Passion Pit entered the stage with a bang with “I’ll Be Alright” immediately  followed by their hit “The Reeling.” Unlike Matt & Kim, Passion Pit didn’t mince words much throughout the show other than a couple hellos and thank you’s. Each song was promptly followed by the next, with the illuminated spherical lamps moving and changing colors with each track.

The band managed to play most of their latest album Gossamer, while still mixing in a few songs from Manners. The crowd was mostly a blur of hands and joy-infused dancing from the beginning of the band’s set until “Little Secrets” closed down the night. With ears ringing and legs tired, the crowd traveled out of the auditorium with the infectious tracks of the evening resonating throughout the night.

Ian Birnam covers music. Contact him at ibirnam@dailycal.org.

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