Tagged: grizzly writes

show recap: thrice farewell tour (may 10-11, 2012)


photo credit: weworemasks

Well, folks. This is the last “last tour” I would want to be reviewing. Since 2001, Thrice has been a mainstay in my musical emergence, maturation and all that mushy stuff. It was good to be presented with a weekend opportunity to catch them twice: once in Austin and once in our hometown. So we rallied up our closest friends who were Thrice fans, trekked to Austin to catch a set for fun, and trekked back home to catch what would probably be our last Thrice show for sentimental and blog purposes.

I’m going to go ahead and throw this out there: this is an incredibly biased recap; if you’re here to see what was wrong with it, you’re looking in the wrong place. Hit the jump for the review, setlists and photos.

-grizzly
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show recap: enter shikari/letlive. (may 7, 2012)


photo credit: weworemasks

After an e-mail blast about the Enter Shikari tour with letlive, I was naturally curious to attend. Having no prior knowledge of Enter Shikari beforehand proved to be both out of my comfort zone musically and a challenge to write about journalistically. Sure, I was a fan of letlive., having seen them (no joke) four times in the past year. But a tour with a UK post-hardcore outfit that relies greatly on electronics? Why not – the two have toured together in the past.

Hit the jump for the recap.

-grizzly

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show recap: childish gambino (april 5, 2012)


photo credit: weworemasks

Donald Glover had to postpone the first three weeks of the Camp Gambino tour due to a broken foot, pushing the start date all the way to the Texas run, which included a stop at Houston’s House of Blues. Having not seen any proper reviews for the tour, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Was he going to possess the same energy and livelihood of his narcissistic, but fantastic IAMDONALD tour? (He did.) Would having an opener hinder his creativity? (It didn’t.) Would Camp go over well live? (It did.) Will his broken foot affect his performance? (It didn’t.)

Recap after the jump.

-grizzly
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show recap: fun. (march 20, 2012)


photo credit: Arielle Gutierrez

fun. has really propelled themselves into the mainstream as of late. Their single “We Are Young” is being played to high hell on radio stations, Chevy commercials and much more. This particular show was book for the Warehouse Live studio, but due to the high demand of tickets, was moved to the Ballroom, which is roughly 4 times the capacity. And even THAT sold out.

Hit the jump for the review.

-grizzly
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event recap: SXSW 2012 (march 15-17, 2012)


photo credit: TSS

We’re seasoned vets when it comes to SXSW. For the last 6 years, we’ve been at the festival to some capacity, regardless of how drunk we got or how bad our allergies were. And while last year’s festival left us jaded and hesitant of the crowds, we headed to Austin for a few days to engage in whatever came our way.

Review after the jump.

-grizzly and sunbear
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free album: kyle hubbard – you’re not that special [+ interview] (2012)

Kyle Hubbard is an up and coming emcee in Houston, TX. I know, I know, but what’s the selling point? Well, being that I’m not a huge proponent of Houston rap that sounds like Houston rap, I’m not necessarily that thrilled either. But that’s where Hubbard comes in an provides a little jolt to the scene around these parts. Carrying the influences of Atmosphere on his back, he set out to release a personal album that isn’t a snafu of wood grain and syrup. Kyle’s a storyteller, and because that drives his albums, I’m on board. Here’s an album he’s been working on for a while, to follow up his 2010 EP, Tomorrow in Retrospect. Download it below and hit the jump for a “get to know you” of sorts, as well as the album’s tracklisting.

download:

Kyle Hubbard – You’re Not That Special [FREE ALBUM]

-grizzly
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show recap: A$AP rocky (february 26, 2012)


photo credit: marco torres/houston press

A$AP’s blown up quite a bit, hasn’t he? From being somewhat of an underdog at last year’s CMJ Festival to opening up for Drake on the Club Paradise tour to headlining the Ballroom at Warehouse Live, his career’s been fast-tracked, to say the least. Expectations were high, the show was sold out, and the rumors were buzzing.

Hit the jump for the recap.

-grizzly
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show recap: big k.r.i.t. (february 22, 2012)


photo credit: grizzly’s phone/instagram [forgot my camera at home]

After having caught onto Wuz Here sometime in 2010, my appreciation for K.R.I.T.’s vulnerable southern snarl was immediate. There’s just something about the man that screams ingenuity and honesty. He’s taken the absolute best (and believe me, there are only a few) things about southern rap music and ran with them, highlighting his ability to tell stories, producing incredible beats and turning heads all the while.

This show was supposed to be a release party for 4eva And a Day, his upcoming mixtape due out March 6th, but due to a push back (the original date was February 21st), K.R.I.T. kind of left himself in the dust. He had a slew of new songs to premiere and no one would know em – and surprisingly, Houston didn’t seem to mind. Review after the jump.

-grizzly
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weworemasks presents: grizzly’s year-end lists [year-end lists] (2011)

And last/least, we have my list – Grizzly. You know me well, because I’m the one who didn’t have a real job for most of the year and spent time blogging, reviewing and bullshitting on/with/near weworemasks. And now that I have a job, I’ll be doing the same, like a boss. Regardless, I’m sure many of you are quite familiar with the shit that I post, but I’ve compiled lists for my favorite albums, EPs, mixtapes and TV shows (and the honorable mentions for each). Everything else can be found in this bulk of awesome mess below. Love all yall. Looking forward to 2012.

[ Previous Year-End Lists: Panda's Year-End Lists | Sunbear's Year-End Lists | Top Memes of 2011 | The LOST Songs of 2011 | 2011 weworemasks.com Reader's Poll | Top Sports Moments of 2011 | Best Music Videos of 2011 | Top 10 Live Shows of 2011 | Top 10 Disappointing Albums | Top 10 Worst Lil Wayne Lyrics ]

-grizzly
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weworemasks presents: sunbear’s year-end lists [year-end lists] (2011)

So it looks like we’ve run the ‘fun lists’ into the ground, now it’s time to get down to the real deal. While Sunbear’s done a great job all year of keeping everyone up to date on the more ‘alternative’ sides of things and keeping me company at shows (mainly the drinking), he’s currently out on sabbatical in the Phillipines. While he was over there, he managed to muster me up a quick little year-end list, short of filler, blurbs and all that bulky meaty shit and kept you tuned for the barebacked year-end lists over in his camp. Hit the jump for his Top 20 Albums, Top 15 Live Shows, Top 9 Movies and Top 15 TV Shows – all in no specific order.

[ Previous Year-End Lists: Top Memes of 2011 | The LOST Songs of 2011 | 2011 weworemasks.com Reader's Poll | Top Sports Moments of 2011 | Best Music Videos of 2011 | Top 10 Live Shows of 2011 | Top 10 Disappointing Albums | Top 10 Worst Lil Wayne Lyrics ]

-grizzly c/o Sunbear

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weworemasks presents: top memes of 2011 [year-end lists] (2011)

This particular post was fairly huge for the blog, and in the past year, it’s infiltrated the top 20 most viewed pages on weworemasks.com. Granted, it’s no ‘Worst Weezy Lyrics’ (that thing has blown up), but it’s a lot of fun and I’ll probably continue to do this as long as it’s relevant. I’m guaranteeing good times here, but if there’s any memes you feel I’ve missed, feel free to post your favorites in the comments, or ignore it and talk shit about it to your friends.

For this year’s list, there’s a catch. I’ve “hired” my good friend Roque Strew to be my meme consultant for each of my choices in the top 10. There, he’ll be an analyst of my choices, asserting his opinion on each particular meme. The list is below the jump, and enjoy!

[ Previous Year-End Lists: The LOST Songs of 2011 | 2011 weworemasks.com Reader's Poll | Top Sports Moments of 2011 | Best Music Videos of 2011 | Top 10 Live Shows of 2011 | Top 10 Disappointing Albums | Top 10 Worst Lil Wayne Lyrics ]

-grizzly & roque strew

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weworemasks presents: the LOST songs of 2011 [year-end lists] (2011)

I know, I know. You folks are probably upset that I used this theme last year, but get used to it. I think this is one of the cooler ideas I’ve had, and I really love LOST – so here we go with the 2nd annual list. “The LOST Songs” is an alphabetical list of 50 great songs (in my opinion, of course) that didn’t end up on any albums, EPs, mixtapes, etc. on my list this year. There were a lot of one-offs that deserve praise, and this is the platform. Below the jump, you’ll find these 50 songs in five different .zip files, groups of ten. Worst case scenario, 50 shitty songs from a shitty blogger. Best case scenario? You come out with like 20 songs you didn’t like, know or have before. And for a quick reference, here’s last year’s list. Hit the jump for 2011′s.

Also, we’ve created a Spotify playlist for the occasion.

[ Previous Year-End Lists: 2011 weworemasks.com Reader's Poll | Top Sports Moments of 2011 | Best Music Videos of 2011 | Top 10 Live Shows of 2011 | Top 10 Disappointing Albums | Top 10 Worst Lil Wayne Lyrics ]

-grizzly
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weworemasks presents: the 2011 reader’s poll [year-end lists] (2011)

Every year, we usually let a handful of people have their $.02 to post their Top 10 lists of any given variety. And while it’s fun for me to read, it’s not exactly the most fun sitting here and editing 30 Top 10 lists for TV shows, albums, etc. That’s not including the HTML work. So this year, I took a page from the Pitchfork book of year-end lists to come up with a userpoll system. I had a group of 50 people (roughly) surveyed, and about 42 got back to me. These people are various folks in my friend circle, music industry or folks I’ve come across through networking (WWM and AP.net), so on and so forth. That being said, I feel like a lot of these folks allow WWM to influence their choices or something, because I like most of em!

Anyway, hit the jump for the poll, which includes:

  • Top 20 Albums
  • Top 10 TV Shows
  • Top 10 TV Characters (Drama & Comedy)
  • Top 5 Sports Teams
  • Top 10 Movies
  • Top 5 Most Anticipated Movies for 2012
  • Best Artist & New Artist
  • Most Overrated Artist, Album, TV Show & Movie

So hit the jump for those good times.

[ Previous Year-End Lists: Top Sports Moments of 2011 | Best Music Videos of 2011 | Top 10 Live Shows of 2011 | Top 10 Disappointing Albums | Top 10 Worst Lil Wayne Lyrics ]

-grizzly

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weworemasks presents: top sports moments of the year [year-end lists] (2011)

We’re back at it again. I’ve recruited my cousin to do a year-end list, consisting of the best moments in professional sports this past year. While we had a “Top 10″ list last year, this year’s list took a different route. So instead, you’ll see a “highlight reel” of sorts – namely a month by month breakdown of what some of the memorable moments were from 2011.

As always follow thevhb on twitter to keep up with his latest musings.

[ Previous Year-End Lists: Best Music Videos of 2011 | Top 10 Live Shows of 2011 | Top 10 Disappointing Albums | Top 10 Worst Lil Wayne Lyrics ]

-grizzly & thevhb

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