Double Down with Ryan Leslie
June 21st, 2010Don’t take this the wrong way, but Ryan Leslie is smarter than you are. He aced the SATs, getting a perfect score, when he was just 14 and then graduated from Harvard at 19. Leslie has gone on to become a successful, producer, rapper, singer and multi-instrumentalist (all documented on his YouTube channel). He’s written and produced for Beyoncé, Britney Spears and New Addition while still finding time to put out a few of his own singles and mixtapes. As if he weren’t busy enough with that, Leslie released two albums, Ryan Leslie and Transition, last year. Recently, he was in Europe touring in support of Ne-Yo, but now he’s back in the US, previewing music from his next album, Les Is More, at The Bowery Ballroom tomorrow and Wednesday.
The New Pornographers – Terminal 5 – June 19, 2010
June 21st, 2010
The Morning Benders on a Saturday Night
June 18th, 2010
(Photo: Michael Jurick)
Hallelujah! It’s finally Friday and the weekend is upon us. And with sunny skies ahead, why not spend some quality time outside at The Beach at Governors Island? Tomorrow night the Morning Benders, Freelance Whales and Wild Nothing play the second FREE show as part of Converse’s Gone to Governors series. And you should definitely be there.
What began as a project for just one guy with a laptop and a microphone blossomed into a full-fledged band when Chris Chu invited three UC Berkeley classmates to join him as the Morning Benders. Chu, who recently moved to NYC essentially for Joe Shanghai’s soup dumplings, recorded the EP Loose Change on his own but the quartet has since put out several EPs plus two full-lengths, and the most recent, Big Echo, which came out this past March, is filled with well-crafted atmospheric pop tunes. (Chu has cited Brian Wilson as an inspiration.) So if you think about it, the Morning Benders (below, doing “Excuses” with some friends) are kind of the perfect band to see for free outside with your feet in the sand.
The Morning Benders with Freelance Whales and Wild Nothing
June 19, 2010 – 8:00 p.m. (doors open at 6:00 p.m.)
FREE SHOW
All Ages
Governors Island Ferry Information Update
We encourage everyone to come early and enjoy The Beach. If you are on the island before the show, make sure you get to The Beach venue by 5:30 p.m., at which time concert wristbands will be distributed. Governors Island ferries will run from the Battery Maritime Building until 5:30 p.m. There will be no boats to the concert departing from the Battery Maritime Building after 5:30 p.m. Dedicated concert ferries will depart after 5:30 p.m. from two locations:
Manhattan
Pier 11, which is located at the corner of South Street and Wall Street in lower Manhattan (about four blocks south of South Street Seaport).
Brooklyn
Pier 6, which is in Brooklyn Bridge Park at the foot of Atlantic Avenue (where Furman Street turns into Columbia Street).
Wristbands will be distributed at both the Manhattan and Brooklyn ferry departure points on a first-come, first-served basis, starting at 5:30 p.m.
The London Souls – The Bowery Ballroom – June 17, 2010
June 18th, 2010
From Your TV to the Lower East Side
June 17th, 2010The Heavy – The Bowery Ballroom – June 16, 2010
Sometimes you catch the buzz in time and sometimes it’s just too late. It was certainly the latter for me with the Heavy. The English quartet had a sold-out Bowery Ballroom crowd spilling out of the performance space Wednesday night. With a full suite of back-up singers and a horn section behind the band, frontman Kelvin Swaby powered a set that had one energy level, high, and one volume, loud. The weekly planner may have read Wednesday, but with a high-octane blend of soul, rock, ska and R&B, it certainly felt like Saturday night for all those inside.
Swaby was a force onstage, running the show like a rhetorical conversation with the audience, which he referred to lovingly as “NYC,” as if they were playing to the entire municipality. (“NYC, can we play some rock and roll?”) Those in the crowd obliged unconditionally: When asked to scream, they screamed. When asked to howl like wolves, they howled. When asked to throw their arms in the air, the arms went up. In turn they were rewarded with a full-fledged house party and, yes, even got to hear the Heavy’s as-seen-on-TV “that song” (“How You Like Me Now?”), which closed out the set. But midway through, when asked to jump up and down, to rage with the punk-soul hybrid pounding in the incense-tinged air and feed the band the same energy they were offering, the audience mostly waved their arms in a feigned jumping motion. I guess it was still Wednesday after all. —A. Stein
Move on Up
June 17th, 2010The National – Radio City Music Hall – June 16, 2010
Just three songs into the National’s sold-out show at Radio City Music Hall last night, lead singer Matt Berninger jumped off the stage and into the crowd. After a strong opening set by the Antlers, the National started with “Mistaken for Strangers,” followed by “Anyone’s Ghost,” from recent release High Violet. As he sang, Berninger displayed his distinctive stage behavior, pacing, wringing his hands and clapping to himself along with drummer Bryan Devendorf’s frantic beats—a controlled mass of pent-up energy. It was halfway through “Bloodbuzz Ohio” when Berninger, no longer able to hold it in, jumped down to be alongside his hyper fans as he sang angst-ridden lyrics touching upon love, debt and failure.
The National easily filled the cavernous venue with their dynamic orchestral arrangements of songs like “Squalor Victoria,” “England,” “Runaway” and “Little Faith,” but were quick to acknowledge their more humble beginnings, dedicating “Secret Meeting” from their 2005 album, Alligator, to The Bowery Presents’ own Johnny Beach, who they note got them their very first show. The National seemed to want to remind hometown fans that while they may be playing bigger and bigger venues these days, we need not fret because this is weird for them, too.
For his part, Berninger continued to breach the stage/audience boundaries, and during the climatic “Mr. November,” made his way all the way up to the mezzanine, his microphone cord trailing behind him, as audience members helped pass it over their heads to follow the singer. Since the National’s emotive, lush music is no longer a wonderful shared secret among a select group of savvy listeners, it is likely that the venues they play in will continue to grow in size. But luckily, at last night’s show, Berninger seemed to prove that as the band’s popularity rises, he, too, will rise up to the highest balcony and sing beside more and more members of the crowd, the place where he is perhaps most comfortable. —Alena Kastin
Photos courtesy of Mina K
A Free MP3 from Sage Francis
June 16th, 2010
Paul “Sage” Francis is an interesting dude. He’s a hip-hop guy out of Providence, R.I., but in addition to rapping, he’s got his own label—Strange Famous Records—he’s worked on movie soundtracks and as a spoken-word performer, he’s spent a considerable amount of time in Providence’s poetry-slam community. Over the years he’s release a slew of material: singles, mixtapes, EPs, LPs, instrumental work and live albums. But he’s gone in a different direction with his newest disc, last month’s Li(f)e. It was produced by just one person, Brian Deck, and it found Francis collaborating with musicians from Death Cab for Cutie and Sparklehorse, and on “The Best of Times,” which you can download here, French composer Yann Tiersen (Amélie soundtrack) wrote the music. Sage Francis (his video for “The Best of Times” is above) plays Webster Hall on Friday, June 25th.
One Last Chance to See Isis
June 16th, 2010
The post-metal L.A.-based band Isis has deftly balanced ambience and aggression since originally forming in Boston in 1997. The quintet has released five studio albums, including last year’s Wavering Radiant. And last month they announced plans to retire at the end of this tour. Fittingly, the band’s final show—a week from today—will be played in the same city as their first gig, Montreal. Kind of a bummer, right? Well the good news is that Isis and the Melvins are playing two shows in NYC this weekend. Saturday’s show at Music Hall of Williamsburg is already sold out, but you can still see Isis (above, in the studio for the Wavering Radiant sessions) one last time on Friday at Webster Hall.
A Band on the Rise
June 15th, 2010Warpaint – Mercury Lounge – June 14, 2010
(Photo: Jared Levy)
Back in early March, four relatively unknown women opened for Akron/Family at Music Hall of Williamsburg. At the time, bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg and drummer Stella Mozgawa wore matching pajamas while guitarist-singers Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman dressed like Lilith Fair attendees. However, as these ladies of Warpaint made abundantly clear, music is not a reflection of appearance. Their delicate and innocent looks acted only as a siren song, luring unsuspecting listeners to unanticipated sounds. The difference between this group and the dangerous mythological creatures is that after their opening performance, filled with spacey jams and fierce drumming, the audience met a blissful rather than tragic end.
Last night Warpaint returned to New York City for a packed early show at Mercury Lounge. Even before the first chords sounded, the buzz was palpable. The crowd consisted of numerous camera-toting media types in addition to Chris Keating from Yeasayer and Chris Chu from the Morning Benders (who play a free show at The Beach at Governors Island on Saturday). And although Warpaint’s only release is their debut EP, Exquisite Corpse, Rolling Stone recently listed them as an essential set at last week’s Bonnaroo.
Building on the audience’s excitement, Warpaint quickly went from sound check to their set, with Wayman asking for the house music to be cut midsong. No one protested as they opened with a new track that led into Exquisite Corpse’s serene opener, “Stars.” Since their last performance, the band members have each seemed to develop as individual contributors and as part of the group. Mozgawa’s drumming continues to be an unstoppable force and this time around she traded instruments with Kokal for an equally powerful performance on guitar. Additionally, Lindberg’s steady bass and affable attitude bring levity to Wayman’s and Kokal’s serious yet respectable stoicism. The only issue with Warpaint is balance, but as they continue to tour, expect their sound to sharpen and their anonymity to fade. —Jared Levy
Grow a Pair: Win Free Tickets to See the New Pornographers on 6/19
June 15th, 2010
The New Pornographers have a new disc, Together, and they’re playing Terminal 5 on Saturday. The show is sold out, but if you didn’t already get tickets, you’ve still got the chance to go because The House List is giving away two of them. Want to Grow a Pair? It’s easy: Just fill out the form below, listing your name, e-mail address, which show you’re trying to win tickets to (New Pornographers, 6/19) and a brief message giving your best World Cup-themed porno title. Eddie Bruiser, a lover of soccer and porn (although primarily the latter), will notify the winner by Friday. Good luck.
Jeff Beck – The Wellmont Theatre – June 14, 2010
June 15th, 2010
Grace Potter Dazzles Webster Hall
June 14th, 2010Grace Potter and the Nocturnals – Webster Hall – June 12, 2010
Four days after the release of her self-titled album, Grace Potter (and her band, the Nocturnals) took to the candle-and-rose-adorned stage at Webster Hall with outrageous energy and a beautiful country- and blues-rock sound. From the first song to the end of the second encore, Potter sported a smile on her face that proved to be nothing short of contagious among the crowd.
While many remark about two of Potter’s most noticeable assets (her legs), what made Saturday’s show outstanding were two far more important factors: One was the lead-singer presence, which few master, at its most noticeable when she stomped around the stage with a Mick Jagger-like swagger. The other was her stunning musical talent, encompassing everything from an electric voice, wailing on a Gibson Flying V guitar and hammering away on a Hammond B3 organ.
Not only did the band put on a riveting and riotous hour-plus-long set (including a wonderful slowed-down cover of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass”), they had the crowd howling along to their rendition of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.” After a few more songs they finished what most thought was the entire show with a beautiful soft-loud-soft version of “Nothing but the Water,” but to everyone’s surprise Potter and the Nocturnals came out once more for the elusive second encore. For their true finale, they treated the crowd to “Stop the Bus,” during which they all got lower and lower—both in volume and in relation to the stage—until rising up for one last explosive ending. —Sean O’Kane
Photos courtesy of Sean O’Kane | seanokanephoto.com
