Photos courtesy of Dino Perrucci | dinoperrucciphotography.com
Ray LaMontagne - Beacon Theatre - November 5, 2009
November 6th, 2009They Always Entertain, No Matter What They Call Their Band
November 6th, 2009Islands - The Bowery Ballroom - November 5, 2009
The Unicorns were a surprising mix of indie-pop experimentation. They broke all kinds of rules, all while crafting funny, ridiculous, hypertwee adolescent pop. Their first album was a critical success, so they immediately disbanded to reform as th’ Corn Gangg, briefly playing hip-hop covers of Unicorns songs. Following another break up, they returned as Islands, which, as Nick Thorburn constantly reminds interviewers, are forever. Two members remain at the core of all of these projects: Thorburn and Jamie Thompson, whose tumultuous relationship has spawned some of the most endearing and innovative pop songs over the past 10 years.
Islands, known for their onstage theatrics, didn’t disappoint. Dressed in all white, almost Greek-influenced robes with head wreaths, Thorburn headed the forum with a James Brown-inspired, diamond-studded cape. Comfortable onstage, all through “Vapours” he stared down at fans, baptizing them with a push of his hand, swiping their beer or even picking up a notebook left on the edge of the stage and writing the owner a note. There’s an inherent sense of humor to their music that still comes from that experimental place of unorthodox instrumentation and clever lyrics. Who else could passionately deliver “Uncross my arms/To disarm the car bomb/It’s taking too long/Something must be wrong”? Islands are taking their playful formula further and further with each album, becoming more polished, and reintroducing synth and dance rhythms in pursuit of that perfect pop sound. Saving the best for last, they indulged the crowd with “Rough Gem,” which launched the Bowery crowd into a final frenzy of indie-rock proportions. —Jason Dean
Photos courtesy of Mina K
Cass McCombs on Monday Night
November 6th, 2009From Baltimore, the place that brought you Omar Little and “The Star Spangled Banner,” comes singer-songwriter Cass McCombs, whose calling card is his distinctive voice, both lyrically and aurally. Prior to actually releasing any music, his dark, funny stories earned him a slot touring with Palace (a Will Oldham—of Bonnie Prince Billy fame—band) and the Oxes, which eventually led to McCombs putting out his debut EP, Not the Way, in 2002. Two LPs followed before he found himself on the road with Modest Mouse. But since releasing his fourth full-length album, Catacombs, in July, McCombs has been the headliner. He’s off to Europe at the end of the month, but before that, he’s playing one last U.S. show, with Acrylics and Bad Girlfriend, on Monday at Mercury Lounge.
(Above, Cass McCombs plays “That’s That” live in studio at KCRW.)
See Monsters of Folk This Weekend!
November 5th, 2009Monsters of Folk play United Palace tomorrow and the Beacon Theatre on Sunday. Check them out, above, playing “Dear God” with the Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Thao with the Get Down Stay Down’s Party Atmosphere
November 5th, 2009Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - Bowery Ballroom - November 4, 2009
(Photo: Shervin Lainez)
The cover of Thao with the Get Down Stay Down’s newest album features frontwoman Thao hitting a piñata with a cheering crowd behind her (including the rest of the band). Never mind that the piñata is actually an oversize human heart and that there’s blood streaming out where the candy should be. It’s a perfect image for their music, a put-a-smile-on-your-face party. The tone of their Bowery Ballroom show was set before they even hit the stage when the album’s opening 30-second track, “The Clap,” played over the P.A. This was a directive to the crowd: You will clap. Sure enough, the rest of the night was a clap-along, sing-along, fun-filled Festivus.
The key word here is fun, and how could you not have fun with a band name like that? The music was deceptively light and bubbly, riding on a bouncy bass. Thao had a twitchy, kinetic energy with a slight rasp to her voice that was irresistible: It was clear that almost everyone in The Bowery, man and woman, had a crush on the woman and on the music. There is an indistinct ethnicity to the songs, a sort of Euro-Afro-Caribbean combo. This is sexy, flirty music, way groovy without getting too thick.
Before “When We Swam,” Thao explained that the lyric was “Oh, bring your hips” not “open your hips” and had her bandmates demonstrate a hip-centric dance move (“If you do it, you’re gonna get laid!”), then proceeded to flirt, PG-13 style, with her music, tickling her guitar and getting a giggly groove out of it. For the encore, they nearly recreated the album cover with nine people on stage, including members of the stellar opening act, the Portland Cello Project. It was a party, through and through. —A. Stein
A Double Shot of Wolfmother
November 5th, 2009The psychedelic-tinged hard-rocking Wolfmother’s debut album, Wolfmother, came out in 2006 to much acclaim. With Andrew Stockdale on vocals and guitar, Chris Ross on bass and keys and Myles Hekett on drums, the Australian band’s throwback sound earned comparisons to Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer, and their music was featured everywhere from Guitar Hero II to an iPod commercial to Shrek the Third. But despite the fact that things were riding high for the power trio, just like on Behind the Music, backstage things were falling apart.
Citing irreconcilable differences, Ross and Heskett left behind Stockdale and the group’s name in the summer of 2008. Undeterred, Stockdale got back in the saddle, recording new material—in L.A. this past spring—with Dave Atkins on drums, Aidan Nemeth on rhythm guitar and Ian Peres on bass and keys. The band, now a four-piece, then spent the summer opening for the Killers. But since releasing another heavy-rock disc, Cosmic Egg, two weeks ago, the newest version of Wolfmother is currently headlining a tour across two countries in North America and two boroughs in New York City—Sunday at Terminal 5 and Monday at Music Hall of Williamsburg.
(Above, Wolfmother plays “New Moon Rising” on Later…with Jools Holland.)
Heartfelt Music at Mercury Lounge
November 4th, 2009Noah and the Whale - Mercury Lounge - November 3, 2009
It’s hard to say what this crowd came to see. Charlie Fink, lead singer of Noah and the Whale, sort of shuffled to the stage with his five-piece band fully intent on playing large swatches of their new album, First Rites of Spring, ostensibly a love note and a gigantic fuck you to Fink’s ex-girlfriend and former bandmate, Laura Marling. The record is a gut-wrenching exegesis on breaking up, and Fink is more than intent to play it the way a mechanic can stare into the bowels of your car and tell you, quite simply, your engine doesn’t work. Except that it’s Fink who is broken, which is exactly what the crowd has shown up to see. The band opened with “Blue Skies,” arguably the most uplifting of Fink’s tragic masterwork. Of course, this would be like saying The Old Guitarist was the most uplifting painting of Picasso’s Blue Period.
There are aspects of schadenfreude at work here. You couldn’t say Fink looked sickly or drunk or morose or any of the other signifiers that usually typify modern human breakups, and yet the music told a different story. Playing “Our Window,” which vividly describes the night of their separation, Fink was either completely satisfied with his documentation of this event or he’s still actively hurt by it. Either way, we’ve all stopped to watch his emotional car accident, beautifully scored as it may be. What’s that say about us, members of the nearly sold-out crowd, who came to witness this? Were we hoping to be healed in this fire? As the band ripped through the end of “First Rites of Spring,” you felt Fink connect for the first time with this catharsis we’ve come to be a part of. It was the last song of their main set and then they moved into “Shape of My Heart,” from their first album. It had a different tone but given the circumstances, whatever the shape of Fink’s heart, it was almost certainly still broken. —Geoff Nelson
Five Questions with…Amy Millan
November 4th, 2009
(Photo: Courtesy Arts & Crafts/Finn O’Hara)
Amy Millan is a singer and guitarist best known for her work with the bands Broken Social Scene and Stars. But she’s also plenty accomplished on her own. Her first album, the roots-rock-filled Honey from the Tombs, came out in 2006. And she released her second solo effort, the spare Masters of the Burial, in September. As is usually the case, an accompanying tour has followed, which brings her to Mercury Lounge tomorrow night. But we wanted to hear what she had to say before then, and Millan—who claims her biggest nonmusical talent is “making soup”—was nice enough to answer Five Questions for The House List.
What’s the best part of playing New York City?
The first time I came to New York many years ago, I knew its reputation as being rude. I found it to be the opposite. It’s extremely friendly compared to say, Toronto. People don’t live in fear, so it’s easy to have random chats about random topics with strangers, if you aren’t an asshole.
What’s your favorite place in New York City to hang out? And do you ever feel like you could live here?
Angel’s Share, Central Park, Babbo to name a few. If I ever become a millionaire, I will definitely get a flat and spend more time there.
Do you have to be depressed to write a sad song? Do you have to be in love to write a love song? Is a song better when it really happened to you?
There is a current of all emotion that you can dip your fingers into at any time if you wish to. There is a world sadness that is ever-present. So no, I don’t find I need to feel depressed to write a sad song. As with the last question, love is everywhere. Even in the gutter. It’s all happening to me. Even if it’s my reaction to someone else’s story, it’s still being interpreted by my feelings.
Your after-party is at Hi-Fi, the Avenue A bar known for its endless jukebox, and The House List gives you a buck. Which three songs are you playing?
“Lovely Day” by Bill Withers, “Only You Babe” by Curtis Mayfield and “The Whole World” by OutKast.
It’s 4 a.m. and last call has come and gone. What’s your next move?
Well if for some insane, drug-related reason I was not already in bed, then out the guitars would come and we would sing until the sun came up. —R. Zizmor
Fuck Buttons - The Bowery Ballroom - November 2, 2009
November 3rd, 2009
Spend Two Evenings with Monsters of Folk
November 3rd, 2009Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis (of Bright Eyes), Jim James (of My Morning Jacket) and M. Ward have put together their significant talents to form Monsters of Folk and to record a terrific self-titled album (stream three songs here) that has taken them out on the road and earned them favorable comparisons to the Traveling Wilburys and Crosby, Stills and Nash. They recently played Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit, and tonight they’re performing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. But if you want to see these MoFos in person—playing a mix of originals, covers and songs from their respective catalogs—you’re got two chances: They play United Palace on Friday and the Beacon Theatre on Sunday.
(Check out the the video for “The Right Place,” above.)
Grow a Pair: Win Free Tickets to See Girls on 11/6
November 3rd, 2009
San Francisco’s Girls have a well-received new album, Album, out and they’re playing a sold-out show this Friday at The Bowery Ballroom. If you’ve got a thing for these ethereal rockers but weren’t able to get tickets, you’ll be happy to know you can try to Grow a Pair from The House List. Just fill out the form below, listing your name, e-mail address, which show you’re trying to win tickets to (Girls, 11/6) and a brief message telling us why you deserve to spend the night with these Girls. Eddie Bruiser, who’d just like to spend the night with somebody, will notify the winner by noon on Friday, November 6th. Good luck.
Reunited and It Feels So Good
November 2nd, 2009The Get Up Kids - Music Hall of Williamsburg - November 1, 2009
While bands like KISS have devalued the real significance of reunion tours, there are still acts like the Get Up Kids willing to prove that not all reunion tours are half-assed attempts at moneygrubbing. Taking the stage to the tongue-in-cheek intro music of Prince’s “1999,” the Get Up Kids wrapped up a three-night stay in New York City with a sold-out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Following a now commonly brilliant set from hometown boy Kevin Devine, the Get Up Kids made, surprisingly, their first-ever appearance in Brooklyn. More than just a trip down memory lane, the show was filled with energy not normally seen on reunion tours.
Mixing in everything from the ubiquitous “Holiday” to B-side “Anne Arbour,” the band played for more than an hour to the delight of the raucous crowd. Lead singer Matt Pryor’s voice sounded remarkably similar to the recordings on the band’s watershed album, Something to Write Home About, released a decade ago. But the group also had to tread new ground during the set (thanks to guitarist Jim Suptic’s allergic reaction to his Tin Man costume from their Halloween show). Left voiceless, Suptic’s vocals were picked up by keyboard player James Dewees, who jokingly apologized about how his low range would make his new parts sound “too screamo.”
After a stage-dive-inducing performance of “I’m a Loner Dottie, a Rebel…” during the encore, Pryor asked if the audience wanted a “slow song or a rock song.” When the crowd screamed for the latter, one more vocal substitution was needed. Pryor grinned his way through “Ten Minutes,” normally sung by Suptic, and admitted he had never sung it before. —Sean O’Kane
Thievery Corporation - Terminal 5 - October 31, 2009
November 2nd, 2009
No Justice, No Peace
October 30th, 2009Justice - Webster Hall - October 29, 2009
(Photo: Jared Levy)
I watched the trailer for Justice’s documentary, A Cross the Universe, before last night’s show at Webster Hall. Wedged between scenes of the French DJ duo’s hedonistic road trip are equally wild images of their high-energy performances. Scantily clad fans gyrate and bellow. Lights flash in unison with electronic house beats. An illuminated cross looms over an ironically sacrilegious scene. The 90-second teaser gave a glimpse of the intensely debaucherous concert to come.
You could feel the music walking through the venue. The distortion-saturated melodies and bass-heavy rhythms compelled dance rather than inspired it. Making my way through the throngs, the first song I recognized was “DVNO,” from Justice’s debut album, †. Their performance featured a deft mix of familiar hits and pulsating electronic numbers. For this show, their trademark cross was digital rather than physical, which detracted little from Justice’s stage presence. The two DJs raged along with their selections, chain-smoking cigarettes and occasionally flashing the gesture of a cross. They guided the music with an assured cool though they were just as capable of erratically raving with the crowd.
In some ways, it’s useless to recount the songs I deciphered. Of course I recognized when the duo played their Grammy-nominated single, “D.A.N.C.E.,” and songs by the Chemical Brothers and Daft Punk. But the show was a holistic experience rather than a collection of songs—a continuous thought transitioned sometimes subtly and sometimes blatantly. As the crowd roared at 3 a.m. with a passion equal to earlier in the night, Justice closed with a combination of “We Are Your Friends,” their remix of Simian’s “Never Be Alone,” and War’s “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” I was drenched in sweat with my ears ringing as I left just a few hours before sunrise, feeling drained and energized. Few DJs are capable of creating a show with passion and force equal to Justice. —Jared Levy
Spend Three Nights with Noah and the Whale
October 30th, 2009
Noah and the Whale are about to pull off one of the greatest reversals ever to come out of the London folk scene. Their first record, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down, was full of rabid optimism, meditations on love and maybe a hint of darkness, but it was largely covered in the whistles, chimes and ebullience of the much-licensed “5 Years Time.” It was so sweet it stuck to the roof of your mouth. Of course, that was while lead singer Charlie Fink and bandmate Laura Marling were dating and he still believed in the world.
After they broke up last year, Fink sat down to write his Sea Change, a break-up record to live as a breathing, singing, moaning epitaph to the burning of a communal civilization. A musical document to say, “Laura, you ruined my life, you fucking bitch (slash) I still care about you.” Eventually titled First Rites of Spring, the results of Fink’s anguish are as beautiful as they are hard to get through. Strings wail and disinterested guitars meander through rich orchestration as Fink digs into his personal trauma, equal parts composer, coroner and healer. It will make you think of every person who broke your heart. It will make you think of a boat built for two, either sunk or now just big enough for one. Laura, this isn’t your fault, but it begs the classic Nick Hornby question: Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable or was I miserable because I listened to pop music? In this case, it is exactly both. —Geoff Nelson
(Check out Noah and the Whale, above, playing “Rocks and Daggers” on Altitude TV and then go see them live at Mercury Lounge on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.)
Halloween: So Many Options
October 29th, 2009
Boo!
Halloween is about tricks or treats, but why settle for just one when The Bowery Presents is offering a night filled with plenty of both? Deer Tick is playing the songs of the Sex Pistols at Brooklyn Bowl. And if you’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing this band live, you already know that with their three-pronged guitar attack and frontman Jon McCauley snarling Johnny Rotten’s vocals that this will be “Anarchy in the BK” done right.
If the Sex Pistols aren’t your thing, but you still want some classic rock—and who could blame you?—then head to Music Hall of Williamsburg to see Lez Zeppelin. Their tagline is All Girls. All Zeppelin. And these girls are fierce (especially Leesa Squyres as John Bonham)! If you still want covers, but are looking to get down, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe will be doing a tribute to Michael Jackson at The Bowery Ballroom. And if you like a dance party with a slight political bent, then shake it all night at Terminal 5 with D.C.’s Thievery Corporation.
Of course, there are also other options. If you’re looking for some catchy-and-contemplative music, we’ve got that too: Tegan and Sara at Town Hall. And if good old-fashioned storytelling is your thing, hightail it to The Wellmont Theatre to see the engaging Robert Earl Keen and Todd Snider. And, finally, if you’re looking to check out several bands with some “high-octane punk rock with swagger” then check out Mercury Lounge’s lineup, led by Black Taxi. (Plus, there’s even a costume contest.) Do what you like, but do see some music on Halloween!
© 2009
