I really enjoyed “The Waiting”, which premiered on Extra Chill last week. It’s cool to hear a vocalist this strong (Mauricio Masãre) coming into the Charleston scene and playing with some people who have been around a while. Love to see fresh, talented faces and collaboration around town.

https://extrachill.com/2024/04/premiere-erode-the-dream-the-waiting

I also spoke with BadJon at High Water some more about the project this weekend. He told me they record every one of their practices and it helps them dial in their sound because they can then easily reference and develop ideas that came up organically. This includes sending things back and forth with Mauricio before they come together, based off those recordings & demos.

Sounds like a great way to not only hone in on your sound but also make the most out of challenging schedules and limited rehearsal time.

Tin Roof show is May 18th with Genrevolta and Spartina

Wanted to share this hilarious ad I just got on YouTube after engaging with this topic. Lolz

 

Here’s the piece that @indigxld did on the history of the rap beef, from the 1980s all the way to the latest media controversy. It’s a really great read that touches upon all this.. which has continued to unfold even further since we started this discussion.

Rap Beef: The Big Picture
https://extrachill.com/2024/04/rap-beef-the-big-picture-cole-vs-kendrick-vs-drake

And then… another diss from Drake that features AI Snoop Dogg and Tupac verses…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhEiduBxX4c

And… Kanye West got involved

Even Rick Ross…

This is getting pretty wild. I’m sure someone with more knowledge about the subject can drop an assessment, im just gathering the data…

Sorry, a little behind schedule on this – updating tomorrow! High Water sort of threw me off but I haven’t forgotten. Just have one of my best friends from high school in town today so will be out of office.

@steveaycockphoto – thank you! currently if you tap the Extra Chill logo it takes you to the homepage, but I can add a more prominent button.

Changed the thread title.

You want to take a trip down memory lane? Check out this article I did on Joey’s pre-Cry Baby band, Butterfly. Way back in 2017 (!).

https://extrachill.com/2017/08/butterfly-baby-heartbreak.html

Wonder if the new Cry Baby stuff will be more like this!

I agree about the smaller stage addition. That would be awesome and would only add to the experience, giving people more options for music throughout the day and giving local bands a built-in audience. Not to mention, a reason to be excited for the festival (and a bunch of free tickets).

I also think if it was more directly tied in to the community in Charleston, we would see more of a wave around town surrounding the event. We could have things popping up all week long leading up to the festival. Friday night pre-parties at multiple venues with local bands + lineup bands. Afterparties even. It would enrich the whole scene this way.

Obviously it’s going to take time to see any of these things implemented, but I can see a place where it fits.

Yeah shout out to Roti Rolls & Cosmic Charlie’s for keeping some reasonably-priced options on the menu! Both locals who have been around for a while and know what’s good. Roti Rolls had the vibes going all weekend too with their centrally-located booth.

Ate Roti Rolls yesterday and it was dank.

High Water was fun. We have a lot of coverage in the works from the festival this year.

I have a lot to say of course. There was some good music to be had, and some shenanigans to be noted. I already wrote a bit about Noah Kahan’s set on this forum which you can find here.

Definitely room for improvement across the board but some of the sets were fire. I didn’t stay for Hozier last night, not because I have a problem with Hozier, but mostly because I just didn’t have a lot of interest in seeing him. Also it was cold AF, rainy, and I wanted to go home, so I did.

There are a few things I want to discuss about this event that I will dig into later this week on the blog.

1. Noted lack of local bands. The local music scene doesn’t really embrace the event like it should for many reasons but this is one of them. It’s not nearly an accurate cultural representation of the city and there is a lot of work to be done there. Babe Club was awesome though.
2. The water situation left something to be desired. Two water fillup stations that were really hard (for me) to find. The reason for this is pretty clear to me: Live Nation owns a stake in Liquid Death. Increase demand for water, sell more $6 cans of Liquid Death. Pretty lame.
3. Parking. This was the most popular gripe about the event, and since I left early both nights, I did not have to deal with this.
4. Liquor was hard to find. This was due to permitting issues that meant all liquor was served in the corner of the event at the “Cocktail Oasis” or whatever they called it. I don’t drink liquor so this really did not affect me at all. However, a bunch of people were pissed about it. Definitely shitty.

Yes, I’m going to be critical, because I’ve realized that if I don’t use my platform to say this stuff, everybody else is just going to talk about how great all the bands were and share positivity on social media. We’re moving past that phase with Extra Chill and it may ruffle some feathers in the media tent, but frankly I don’t care. As an independent journalist I feel a responsibility to speak my mind.

Just an update on this — the show in Charleston got canceled but it has been rescheduled for September. Jeff asked me to hold the article until then, so we’re going to hold it.

I interviewed Illiterate Light back in 2019 though, in the office at the Pour House. It was one of my earliest interviews and sometimes people still mention it to me. This is how we met and we’ve just stayed in touch over the years whenever they come to town.

https://extrachill.com/2019/02/the-flow-states-of-illiterate-light-interview.html

Our upcoming interview brings things full circle, five years down the line. This band is really cool and fun to see live. Since they’re just a two piece everything happens in real time on the stage, and they embrace the fuckups and keep it moving.

They’ve now got their own studio spaces and have been writing and recording a lot of music lately. Solid dudes who have guts and value the right things about music.

Rock & roll for your morning.

Courtney Barnett – “Pedestrian At Best” – probably my favorite single song performance of the day at High Water yesterday… she rules

I stand by my original sentiments. I did not enjoy Noah Kahan’s set at High Water Fest. Sorry to disappoint anybody who hoped to see me come back around on this guy.

Just got home. The anticipation for his set was insane all day long. People were talking about it, camping out at the stage, ready to faint from excitement (and the 90 degree heat). Fleet Foxes played an awesome set and when they were done, the crowd didn’t leave. They were all there to see Noah Kahan.

Seeing how famous he is, I was really hopeful that I would enjoy it. I was caught up in the wave of anticipation for a moment, thinking that it might end up being pretty sick. I really wanted to like it.

In the end, it actually pains me to see how famous he is. He’s a good singer, I’ll give him that. But the actual music part was lacking to me. The volume on stage was not nearly loud enough, so the performance had this muted feel to it, except for the belting out of every word from the audience. I was not impressed by what they tried to pass off as a “guitar solo,” which was more like three planned measures of mediocrity.

I was wondering if the volume was kept low on purpose to keep the crowd from going too crazy. It really was insanely crowded. Everyone else seemed to really enjoy it.

I couldn’t handle it. I got the hell out of there after 30 minutes.

The stage banter to me was the most painful part. He told everybody to look at the person they came there with, and then notice the worst thing about them and remember it forever. Well, Noah Kahan, what about the people who came there with themselves?

I get it, nobody wants to hear the “love your neighbor” platitudes, but to me it seems to exemplify the poison of American culture. We are tuned to be negative and view each other and ourselves in negative lights. With a platform this large, I would hope he could have brought something with more substance.

Also, he had everybody in the audience put their hands up in the air and then said “Now give me all your money.” The person behind me said “you already have it.” Lol. I left shortly after that. The dude probably got paid at least half a mil for an hour and 15 minute set.

To me, this is bubblegum music that represents a moment in history that will be discussed in the future, and hopefully we will move on from into greener pastures. It represents a low point in American culture, and the state of the music industry. This is what sells tickets. This is what people are buying.

I wish I could have gone to Vegas to see Phish instead.