i know i said my next post was going to be about something else, but i had a chance to shoot arguably one of the better lineups i’ve seen in awhile. 94.9 legitimately is the best radio station on the planet, and the lineup of white rabbits, manchester orchestra, phoenix, vampire weekend, and spoon only confirms that.

here’s a preview shot of each band. click on any of them to see the rest from the night.

SHOW ME TO ALL THE HOOTENANNY PHOTOS.

hey guys. i obviously like music. shocker. everyone seems to like to make lists at the end of the year, and i’m no exception. here goes:

top 10 records of 2009:
paper route - absence (my favorite of ‘09, hands down.)
manchester orchestra - mean everything to nothing (amazing band, amazing record.)
wilco - wilco (the album)
jay-z - the blueprint 3 (i don’t care if you think this is the ironic white guy hiphop pick, but this album rules.)
david bazan - curse your branches (he can do no wrong.)
monsters of folk - s/t (i was skeptical at first, but this record is great.)
phoenix - wolfgang amadeus phoenix (can’t not like these guys.)
a camp - colonia (nina from the cardigans’ side project. picks up where the last 2 cardigans records left off.)
joy williams - songs from this/songs from that (’speaking a dead language’ is my favorite song of 2009.)
taylor swift - fearless (don’t hate. it’s good stuff. and i guess i mean the reissue, since it came out in 09.)

special mention:
switchfoot - hello hurricane (i’m really biased, but it is really great.)

top 10 shows i went to in 2009:
u2 - rose bowl (epic. i love that they play ‘ultraviolet’ on this tour.)
jimmy eat world - nokia la live (clarity tour. probably my favorite record ever.)
sunny day real estate - hob anaheim (i lost my voice at this show. sunny day rules so hard.)
wilco - wiltern (blows me away every time.)
no doubt/paramore - verizon irvine (i love no doubt, and they were super fun live.)
monsters of folk - the greek (’smokin from shootin’ live with conor and m ward doing other verses killed me.)
phoenix - wiltern (hearing ‘funky squaredance’ live gets me every time.)
switchfoot - roxy (this show was especially fun for me. not sure why.)
coachella (i saw paul mccartney, morrissey, and leonard cohen. awesome.)
paramore/paper route - fox theater (funny, sounds like last year.)

so yup. there’s my musical year in list form. it was a great year. one where i got to see some of my favorite bands and even work with them. i also checked off a few things from my list this year. conan held up an album i designed on the tonight show, i had a photo on the cover of a big magazine (relevant), and i even had photos published in rolling stone not once, but twice! here’s the second one. it features some werewolf guy on the cover.

speaking of bands i work with, in an upcoming blog post i am going to go more in depth with the album artwork i did for ‘hello hurricane’ by switchfoot, mainly the big collector’s book. people keep asking me about it, so i think i might devote a post to it. also, thanks for all the great feedback i have getting about it and just the whole packaging in general. you guys are kind. until then, cheers.

well, it finally happened. one of my photos is in rolling stone magazine. pretty excited about it. it’s especially exciting because it accompanies a blurb about the new switchfoot record hello hurricane, of which i was fortunate enough to do all the album art for. it seriously is a great record and i can’t wait until nov 10th when you guys all get to hear it!

in non-sf news, last night i went to see the ‘monsters of folk’ tour, and it pretty much blew me away. i didn’t really know what to expect, but i loved it. highlight of the night was a jim james-led full band rendition of ’smokin from shootin’. it was insane. here’s a few shots i got. click any of the photos or the link below if you want to see more.

MONSTERS OF FOLK photos.

last night i went and shot photos of paramore and paper route. it was the first night of their ‘brand new eyes’ tour. paper route killed it. such a great band with good dudes. paramore also did a great job, despite hayley losing her voice partway through the show. they’re pros, and handled it super well. good times. here’s a few preview shots, but to check out the whole set for each band, click on the name or one of the shots below.

PARAMORE shots. PAPER ROUTE shots.

hey guys. it is crunch week over here in andy barron headquarters (aka, my apartment) for all of the hello hurricane album art for switchfoot. the light at the end of the tunnel is close. can’t wait for you guys all to see it. i think it turned out pretty stinkin great.

i’m very excited that we got to make a vinyl version of the record. me being the vinyl guy that i am, this is near and dear to my heart, so rather than use my original idea for vinyl labels, i scrapped it and went with an old school atlantic look, but with a few embellishments. they didn’t have any old templates or anything, so i just made this from scratch, and i think it turned out pretty great. the record comes out nov 10. get one. love, andy.

hey guys. i recently moved to pasadena. i live with a little old lady. not really. but i did just make this video. it kind of debuts their new song. hope you dig it.

hello friends. currently i am sitting on the wonderful boltbus from philadelphia to new york city for a few days off. it should be really fun, we’re going to see letterman, hit up a yankees game, and just kinda hang out. it’ll be sweet. last night jon and i were in the back lounge of our bus geeking out with the various twitters and facebooks of the world, and i found a couple shots i took of jon a few months ago. they look awesome, so i thought i’d post em up. cheers.

hey guys.  i’m currently on tour with switchfoot.  it’s amazing as usual.  today we are in louisiana at a casino where the stage is next to a pool surrounded by a lazy river.  no joke.  so, i’ve been making these little videos from each day we’re been on tour. here’s a couple.

so yeah. i’ll post more soon. greetings from the road!

andy.

ps. i gave all my art away, so i took down that post.  it was huge and made you scroll down too much.  peace!

hello blogees. some friends in relient k played out the glass house the other day. such good memories from going to shows out there through high school and college (although my biggest concert regret was not seeing sunny day real estate there. sad day.)

check back in a few days, hopefully i’ll post a few photos from the new kids on the block cruise. should be awesome. peace!