Tag Archives: Led Zeppelin

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Rock Out with Clutch Tomorrow Night at Terminal 5

May 1st, 2013

The guys in Clutch—Neil Fallon (vocals, guitar and keys), Jean-Paul Gaster (drums), Dan Maines (bass and vocals) and Tim Sult (guitar and vocals)—have been making their own brand of rock (think: the Venn Diagram overlap of Led Zeppelin and Faith No More, sort of) since forming in Germantown, Md., in 1990. They gained a loyal following and an interest from several indie labels early on, thanks to their high-energy live shows. But despite putting so much emphasis on their stage performances, they still spend a considerable amount of time in the studio recording new material. In fact the quartet recently released their 10th full-length, the well-received Earth Rocker. And now Clutch (above, doing the new disc’s title track) are out on the road in support of it. See them, along with the Sword and Lionize, tomorrow night at Terminal 5.

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A Saturday Night Fever Dream

April 29th, 2013

Oneida – Mercury Lounge – April 27, 2013


A set by Oneida isn’t something you should step into halfheartedly. The veteran noise-jammers have literally played hours on end of penetrating, instrumental music. By those standards, their post-midnight set at Mercury Lounge on Saturday night was an utterly accessible affair. Don’t get me wrong, the band that wished everyone a happy Friday night when the clock was decidedly into Sunday morning and that introduced every piece with “This is a song by Oneida,” still indulged in plenty of their patented fever-dream excursions: walls of sound that seemed to bury their ego, superego and id in overlapping swaths of guitar, keyboards and drums for the audience to discover themselves.

Their Merc set was decidedly song-oriented, which is to say that each tune had lyrics and discernible themes. They opened with a longer fractal jam, where subtle deviations from one musician then another then another, eventually moved the entire mass in one direction or another before finally, 10 minutes later, imploding into an ambient space-out. The second song was, indeed, a song, with a dark proto-metal riff, a Zeppelin/punk/psych-rock combo that had drummer Kid Millions pummeling along at an impossible click. Another piece had a heavy organ groove while the dual guitarists swarmed around with a model-airplane buzz, circling the keyboards, eventually consuming them. As is often the case, it was the drums tying the competing ideas together, Millions impossibly playing with everyone else simultaneously while seemingly making it happen on his own.

The set closed with “Up with People,” a dancehall-techno thing that perfectly matched a latch-on hook with Oneida’s go-anywhere improvisational mien. Playing all those concise songs, even at eight or nine minutes a hit, left plenty of room for an encore, and the band took full advantage, flitting through a couple of cursory verses before diverging into a 20-minute journey: drums swimming in a molten pool of guitars and keyboards, simultaneous ecstatic peaks and spiraling descents, an all-consuming pounding that eventually faded into an oblivion jam, the denouement a full-fledged awe-inspiring piece of improv on its own. —A. Stein

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Opeth Bring Swedish Metal to The Wellmont Theatre Tonight

April 19th, 2013

The Swedish metal band Opeth formed in Stockholm more than two decades ago, influenced by the likes of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, and “occult-infused Scandinavian death metal.” There have been multiple lineup changes since the band’s debut, Orchid, was released in 1995. But the one constant has been frontman (and guitarist) Mikael Åkerfeldt, who is now joined by guitarist Fredrik Åkesson, drummer Martin “Axe” Axenrot, bassist Martín Méndez and keyboardist Joakim Svalberg. And while Opeth (above, doing “The Drapery Falls” at Royal Albert Hall) have long embraced a heavy metal sound, on their 10th album, 2011’s Heritage (stream it below), the five-piece veered in a new direction, employing clean vocals, progressive rock and even jazz fusion to achieve critical and commercial success. (The Guardian called it “brave, melancholic and often beautiful….”) But of course, this doesn’t mean the band’s gone soft. Make no mistake: When they play live, they still bring it, which you can see for yourself tonight at The Wellmont Theatre.

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Two Bands Worthy of the Hype

March 1st, 2013

Unknown Mortal Orchestra/Foxygen – The Bowery Ballroom – February 28, 2013

Unknown Mortal Orchestra

The first time I saw Unknown Mortal Orchestra (or UMO) a couple years back, they were a support act you could just tell wouldn’t be an opener for too much longer. So it felt like no coincidence that their big sold-out headlining show last night at The Bowery Ballroom would feature an opening band riding an acclaimed debut album and the justified hype to sold-out headlining gigs of their own before too long. That band, Foxygen, took the stage in a blaze of manic energy and echo-reverb ooh la la’s, twitching their way through pretty much all of their new We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic album. Those recorded tracks come off as retrofitted rock gems, but live they were a delightfully jagged and ragged set. Untethered from the studio, the sound felt like 1960s rock and roll in a blender: a juicy cocktail of Jagger’s vocals, McCartney’s bass, Morrison’s lithe, wild-eyed stage presence, the Who’s bombastic energy, an occasional dash of Dylan’s off-kilter harmonica, topped off with Neil Young’s hat. It was a delicious brew that the expectant crowd guzzled down happily, highlighted by whiplash versions of “On Blue Mountain” and “No Destruction.”

If Foxygen offered a look back for Unknown Mortal Orchestra, UMO returned the favor. Riding on a next-step sophomore album, simply titled II, the Portland, Ore., trio crackled with the confident, cohesive energy of a band in control. On paper, UMO are a standard power trio—guitar, bass and drums—but their sound has a subtle surrealistic edge. This is a power trio as painted by Salvador Dali, melting over the limbs of trees and walls in a distorted reality. They opened with a splash of older material, centered on the catchy, off-center “Thought Ballune,” every bit of music crunched through just the right amount of distortion. From there, they unveiled track after track from the new album, the heavy-hitter middle section of the show characterized by a nonstop, groove-rock bass playing from Jake Portrait, which propelled along each tune. Frontman Ruban Nielson, looking downright wizardlike in poncho and hat, took over from there, leading the band through the set’s final third, which seemed to get better with each passing riff. Centered on a surprising sing-along version of “From the Sun,” Nielson fit powerful guitar solos into perfectly orchestrated pieces, with each sound from the pummeling drumming of Riley Geare to Nielson’s vocals locked into place. That tune relented into a wonderful Frank Zappa section, which kept at it through the remainder: The band sounding as if Zappa were leading Zeppelin as a power trio through an updated psychedelic catalog.

While the late-night packed crowd thinned out a bit around midnight, those who remained to the end seemed to hear pretty much everything from both albums by the end of the night, from the just-weird-enough “Ffunny Ffriends,” off the self-titled debut to the soulful “So Good at Being in Trouble,” off II. I was struck by how much better the already-darn-good band had gotten since that opening hit, getting me to already contemplate their next time through town, as well as what the future brings for Foxygen. And of course, most important, who will be opening for them when they’re playing their big sold-out headlining show. —A. Stein

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The Weather It Is a-Changin’

February 8th, 2013

American Royalty/Vensaire – Mercury Lounge – February 7, 2013

American Royalty

As the Northeast awaited another impending storm, the theme of the fantastic late double bill at Mercury Lounge last night was “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes,” as both bands hit a dizzying array of sounds, themes and influences, filling every minute with crowd-pleasing music.

First up, Vensaire took the stage while green laser spots floated around the entire room like CGI fairies bringing a little magic to the Lower East Side. To understand Vensaire, all you need to know is they’re the kind of band that that is very easy to dance to and also the kind of band that has a violin player. Their opening song was nine minutes long and stretched through multiple sections, somewhat freaky-folk Grizzly Bear-ish, before an extended, pounding, triumphant ooh-la-la coda that could have been its own song. From there, the band pulled in some Japanese influences, the violin sounding downright eerie. Throughout the set four different musicians took lead vocals and everyone put their own punctuation on the sound—art-rock vocals, groovy bass and keys, and a prog-y lead guitar, covering a lot of territory, all very smart, all very open and loose, and all very danceable.

Picking up where Vensaire left off, American Royalty began in a now nearly packed room with an ambitious string of songs that featured multiple overlapping sections. And each seemed to bounce among styles: It almost felt like an expert DJ working the turntables, mixing and layering sounds to create a new music. Except these guys were doing it live, and every transition was perfect, the trio hitting three main styles: Zeppelin-esque rock and roll, soul and dance club in some combination in their set. About midway through, American Royalty covered Curtis Mayfield’s “Pusherman,” which was perfectly nearly unrecognizable, a real-time remix that captured the essence of the original but re-envisioned it as an American Royalty classic. From there the set was one workout to the next—including the standout material from their released-this-week Prismatic EP—fist-pumping sections comingling with hip twisters, each song building a narrative and usually ending in a high-energy climax. So, yeah, if you didn’t like the “conditions” in the room last night, they’d change soon enough, except it was more like every 30 seconds and, as it turned out, everyone seemed to love it all. —A. Stein

 

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Two Nights of Swedish Rockers Graveyard This Weekend

January 24th, 2013

Inspired by blues-inflected rock legends like Led Zeppelin and Cream, Joakim Nilsson (vocals and guitar) and Rikard Edlund (bass) formed Graveyard back in 2006. Now playing with Jonatan Ramm (guitar) and Axel Sjoberg (drums), the Swedish four-piece’s music reveals hints of blues, folk, jazz and rock and roll—or as they call it, “no boundaries, no limits at all.” Last fall the throwback rockers released their third album, Lights Out (stream it below), which Pitchfork says, “might sound more like Wolfmother—or a supercharged version of the Black Crowes—than an actual metal record.” But you can decide for yourself when Graveyard (above, performing “The Siren” at Bonnaroo in 2011) play The Bowery Ballroom tomorrow night and Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sunday.

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Robert Randolph Feels the Love

November 21st, 2012

Robert Randoph & the Family Band – Brooklyn Bowl – November 20, 2012


You’d be hard pressed to find a more likeable act than Robert Randolph & the Family Band. It’s not just the fact that a large chunk of the group comes from the same family as the supremely talented pedal-steel guitarist—it’s that Randolph’s music is just so damn eclectic. In the artist notes on his Web site, Randolph called his latest record, We Walk This Road, “…a celebration of African-American music over the past 100 years….” In truth, it showcases his signature fusion of gospel, soul, funk and blues. But it’s clear that there’s a hefty helping of sonic diversity in the mix. Last night at Brooklyn Bowl, along with covers of songs by preeminent black artists like Bill Withers (“Use Me”) and Michael Jackson (“Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough”), the group jammed on selections from legendary white rockers like Bob Dylan (“Maggie’s Farm”) and Led Zeppelin (“Whole Lotta Love”).

To hammer in the point further, the band invited Marc Roberge, from frat-boy favorite O.A.R., to pop onstage for a few songs. It’s this ability to integrate a variety of musical influences that underscores Randolph’s likeability. The second—and equally important— piece of the puzzle is Randolph’s unbelievably energetic show. He slowly hooked in the crowd with his virtuosity, beginning the night teasing his signature licks by playing them in short bursts and then finishing up the set with prolonged, heavily climactic solos. “Can I get a witness!” he screamed to the delighted audience after one particularly uplifting jam.

As it turns out, Randolph had no trouble doing that at all. Halfway through the set, one incredibly bold woman climbed onstage to display her dancing ability. (Quick note: She didn’t come anywhere close to vocalist Lenesha Randolph’s kinetic prowess.) And in a matter of seconds, 12 or so women were strutting their stuff in front of hundreds of delighted fans. After the song ended and people returned to the status quo, two of the interlopers planted big, grateful kisses on Randolph’s cheek. It was a fitting symbol of the crowd’s collective love for the band. —Alex Kapelman

(Robert Randolph & the Family Band play Brooklyn Bowl tonight, Friday and Saturday.)

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The Bright Light Social Hour Delivers the Fun

August 9th, 2012

The Bright Light Social Hour – The Bowery Ballroom – August 8, 2012


When on the road, the conventional wisdom is to travel light. Well, I don’t think a band has done more traveling the last couple of years than the Bright Light Social Hour, whose tour dates read more like a stewardess’s work schedule than a rock band’s itinerary. Be that as it may, there is nothing travel size about the sound BLSH brought to a rowdy Bowery Ballroom crowd Wednesday night for their first headlining gig in the city. With so many shows night in and night out, you’d think it’d be difficult to make it count every time, but with a name that brings to mind the anything-goes mentality of a Japanese game show, the band delivered the fun like few others I’ve seen this year.

The set opened with a stretch of tried and true material that showed how nonstop gigging strengthens a band’s chops. “Sweet Madeleine” started off things with the group’s bluesy, Southern rock side, followed by “Shanty,” which fed into the disco dance party with an infectious keyboard lick. By the third song, “Bare Hands Bare Feet,” all gears were firing with A.J. Vincent moving to an in-your-face keytar while drummer Joseph Mirasole unleashed the first of many heavy-artillery assaults. The quartet, rounded out by bassist Jack O’Brien and guitarist Curtis Roush, relied equally on all four members, sharing vocal duties throughout, each bringing a different edge to the sound. The result was a wide-ranging, genre-busting affair: songs starting out in one direction only to flip to another like a boat zigzagging across the International Date Line. Nearly every piece found a moment to breathe, either in a long-building guitar solo, a heavy booty-shaking groove or just an awe-inspiring bout of work from Mirasole. The one common thread running through every tune was the high-energy, pump-your-fists fun the music inspired in the crowd. Apparently these guys can fit one hell of a party in their carry-on.

Midway through, the effusive O’Brien announced they’d be trying some new material. Typically when a band announces the new-material portion of the set, it’s a way of hanging a PARDON OUR APPEARANCE DURING RENOVATIONS sign on the door. But last night it was the most turbulent, adventurous, exciting “Holy hell!” part of the show. The highlight was “Maybe I Do,” which started off as a fantastic rock song that segued into an astounding build-and-release techno jam, hinting at even bigger and better things. At this point the crowd was filled with wide smiles and thoughts of how many more miles until these new songs were the old ones and what that might bring. The set closed in predictably epic fashion, a bad-to-the-bone cover of “Young Man Blues,” the band cresting between vintage the Who and Led Zeppelin. It was a shade past midnight when the encore, another cover, “Mannish Boy,” started and it was almost 12:20 when it finished with as much manic energy as it had begun. —A. Stein

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Bustle in Your Hedgerow Plays Two

August 12th, 2011

Bustle in Your Hedgerow – Brooklyn Bowl – August 11, 2011


Bustle in Your Hedgerow returned to the stage for one of their now-regular gigs, digging through the inexhaustible Led Zeppelin catalog. Operating on the simple premise that everyone loves Zeppelin, it was two sets of party time at Brooklyn Bowl last night. The NYC supergroup, consisting of Joe Russo on drums, Marco Benevento on keyboards, Dave Dreiwitz on bass and Scott Metzger on guitar, has made the tried-and-true songbook their own, playing each number, from “The Ocean” to “Fool in the Rain,” like it was originally conceived as an instrumental masterpiece. Despite the once-or-twice-a-year existence of the band, apparently jamming on Led Zeppelin tunes is like riding a bike, because they were making it look easy, smiles on their faces, occasional bouts of giggles as they took nearly every song on a fist-pumping, ass-shaking deep-jam expedition.

For the most part, the band delved into each voyage as a complete unit with their rare talent of anticipation and cooperation. Still, each of the principals got his chance to shine individually. Metzger went there with a “Heartbreaker” breakdown, charting new scintillating “Jimmy Page would have to approve” territory. Russo, explosive all night, went sticks-free Bonham style for his carpet bomb “Moby Dick” solo. And perhaps the jaw-dropping moment of the night went to Benevento, who went into a trance with an intergalactic Rhodes solo in the middle of “No Quarter” that surely had those in attendance searching the deepest recesses of their minds.

Because with Led Zeppelin, it’s either “go big or go home,” the drop cloth on stage was removed for the encore revealing a second drum kit, which Russo took over to make room for Brooklyn Bowl’s king of Thursday nights, ?uestlove. This was like pouring chili and cheese on an already pretty damn tasty basket of French fries as things got boogie-down delicious for the last two songs, making me wonder why I hadn’t noticed the irresistible disco grooves buried in Zeppelin’s repertoire. It was so much fun, everyone in the crowd was no doubt left wishing they could do it all over again. Luckily for them (and you) they can: Bustle in Your Hedgerow returns to Brooklyn Bowl for two more sets tonight. —A. Stein

Photos courtesy of Greg Notch | notch.org

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