Posts Tagged ‘Review’
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub - The Bowery Ballroom - February 17, 2010
While Daniel Lanois and Black Dub played The Bowery Ballroom last night, they were filmed by a cameraman roving around the stage with the images projected onto a giant screen behind them. The black-and-white video gave the effect of watching a documentary film about the concert while it was actually going on—a shaky-cam, true-to-life rendering in real time. It had a nice enhancing effect on the music, a jagged, emotional set of Lanois’ unique dreamlike pop.
The first group of songs was dominated by Trixie Whitley’s vocals. If ever lyrics were belted out, these were. Whitley proved to be more than just a pretty face and a powerful voice as she moved throughout the night from a second drum kit to rhythm guitar and to keys, meshing quite well with Lanois. The real power behind the band came from the rhythm section, particularly Brian Blade on drums, who was the ever-churning, rumbling fuel to the fire. His energy, intensity and insanely proficient chops set the tone for each song. Occasionally the camera would get behind Blade and give a first-person view of what it’s like to make a drum kit bend to your will—a true moment of cinema verité.
Lanois led his band expertly, following the initial Whitley-lead section with an absolutely gorgeous pedal-steel instrumental duet with Blade. It wouldn’t be a Daniel Lanois show without some superlative, haunting pedal steel and he delivered here: The music filled The Bowery, sounding like it was coming from behind and above, like some heavenly music. For the rest of the time, Lanois played straight-up guitar, and the highlights came toward the end of the set with wonderfully drawn out, heavy versions of “The Maker” and “Ring the Alarm.” —A. Stein
Photos courtesy of Greg Notch | photography.notch.org/music
Tags: Bowery Ballroom, Daniel Lanois’ Black Dub, Photos, Review, Trixie Whitley
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Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Trey Anastasio - Terminal 5 - February 16, 2010
Toward the beginning of the second set of Trey Anastasio’s marathon show at Terminal 5 last night, someone tossed the Phish guitarist a Brian Leetch USA hockey jersey, which he displayed on his amp the rest of the night and then wore during the encore. It was appropriate because Anastasio was playing like an Olympian. From the get-go, it was pure joy, as the mind-probing lights seemed to be induced purely by his smile and energy. Hopping around the stage like a moguls skier, he eased his band into the evening with strong versions of “Push On ’Til the Day,” “Mozambique” and “Gotta Jibboo.”
The Classic TAB, with a horn section and a bass-drums-keys rhythm section backing Anastasio, acted more like a jazz ensemble than a jam band. While it would have been easy for everything to devolve into filler between axe solos, Anastasio has fleshed out this side project with its own fully functioning repertoire. This got mixed up a bit at the end of the first set with an extended solo acoustic sing-along featuring the typically rocking Phish songs “Sample in a Jar,” “Chalkdust Torture” and “Wilson” that was pure joy for musician and audience alike. The second set featured counterintuitively horn-heavy covers of classic-rock staples “Black Dog” (mightily sung by Jennifer the trumpet player) and “Sultans of Swing.”
Still the highlights of the night were when the band relaxed into a groove and Anastasio just shredded. The band reduced to a quartet on songs like “Jibboo” and “Sand”—the bass and drums transforming into gates in a slalom downhill, and Anastasio barreling downhill, gaining momentum and dangerous speeds, with just fractions of a second the difference between gold and crashing and burning. And at the critical moment, the horns would return for a tremendous climax, and there was no question about who would be taking the podium. —A. Stein
Photos courtesy of Gregg Greenwood | gregggreenwood.com
Tags: Gregg Greenwood, Photos, Review, Terminal 5, Trey Anastasio
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Monday, February 15th, 2010
Phantogram - Mercury Lounge - February 12, 2010
It’s an exciting experience to see a new band live. Will the group sound like the music on their record? How will they present their material? Does their appearance match their sound? While these questions—and others—color the perception of a concert, they are ultimately just subtext to the performance. The visceral feeling from the first chord, note, or sound leaves an indelible impression. At Phantogram’s sold-out show at Mercury Lounge on Friday, it was the initial beat of “As Far as I Can See” that silenced doubt and stuck in the crowd’s collective conscience.
Phantogram is the moniker for guitarist Josh Carter and keyboardist Sarah Barthel’s band. Hailing from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., the duo recently released their debut album, Eyelid Movies. In one sense, their sound feels familiar, evoking comparisons to such contemporaries as Beach House and Portishead. But, as their album demonstrates, they also have a unique depth and variety to their music, which sets them apart. On tracks like “When I’m Small,” elements of hip-hop and electronic rock fuse together with Barthel’s soft, beautiful vocals for spectacular results.
Once Carter and Barthel took the stage, following Junk Culture’s set, the crowd swelled in size. How droves of people heard about this rising band is unknown, but judging from the attendance, word is spreading rapidly. In addition to their setup of guitar, keyboard and samplers, Phantogram provided a foot-pedal-activated strobe light and an artistic visual display projected onto a sheet. The accompaniment made for a tremendously dynamic and engaging show. During “All Dried Up,” night shots of a barren highway complemented the dark, serene tune. And so in both sound and appearance, Phantogram exceeded expectations. —Jared Levy
Photos courtesy of Diana Wong | dianawongphoto.blogspot.com
Tags: Junk Culture, Mercury Lounge, Phantogram, Photos, Review
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Tuesday, February 9th, 2010
Yeasayer - The Bowery Ballroom - February 8, 2010
Brooklyn’s Yeasayer exists somewhere between an indeterminate futurism and the completely recognizable past. Like a laser-charged Krautrock band playing in British Mandate-era Palestine or like Depeche Mode performing in postcolonial Delhi, the band is undeniably synthesized, tribal and born back into the future. At a sold-out Bowery Ballroom, the reference game would prove useful as they took the stage amidst sea-sick colors and flashing lights.
Yeasayer opened with the unsettling and familiar first track from their latest record, Odd Blood, “The Children.” With vocals set in an artificially low register and pulsing, almost breathing industrial soundscapes, “The Children” was the edgy, creepy start to a set that would only equal one of the previous two descriptors. Relying heavily on material from the new album, out today, the group powered through “Love Me Girl,” “Madder Red” and “Remember,” although not necessarily in that order. There was an air of science to the exoticism, like Yeasayer had shown up to mediate sound, rather than actually produce it. Far more the medium for the cacophony than its creator, it was almost like they were the dimmer for the lights pulsing around them.
Yeasayer, the guys who used to practice in their apartment on Prospect Avenue in South Park Slope, closed their main set with “Ambling Alp” and “O.N.E,” the two singles off Odd Blood. The words of the middle of their set—from “Remember”—were still echoing around in the top recesses of The Bowery Ballroom: “You’re stuck in my mind/ All the time.” People wouldn’t forget this. And then loops peeled off into nowhere, and the band shuffled around between here and some indefinite never forever. —Geoff Nelson
Tags: Bowery Ballroom, Odd Blood, Review, Yeasayer
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Monday, February 8th, 2010
Galactic - Terminal 5 - February 5, 2010
One of the few things New York City and New Orleans have in common is that each city needs little excuse for a party. Day ending in y? Party! Home team is playing this weekend? Party! So put the finest purveyors of New Orleans funk onstage at NYC’s Terminal 5 on a Friday, two nights before the big game featuring the Saints, and you shouldn’t be surprised by what you get—a big, fat “Who Dat?” fiesta!
Galactic got deep into it from the get-go. It seems they have a new twist whenever they hit the road, and this time was no different with trombonist Corey Henry, of Rebirth Brass Band, expanding the horn section and adding vocals, and Cyril Neville, of NOLA stalwarts the Meters and the Neville Brothers, joining in on percussion and vocals. The boys in the band were more than happy to play backup for long stretches of the evening, ceding the stage to their guests as the set twisted through dark gypsy funk, some hip-hop and plenty of down-home funk.
The unmistakable highlight of the evening came when Tea Leaf Green’s Trevor Garrod and Josh Clark—their band opened and seemed to squeeze a Grateful Dead-show’s worth of music into their generous 75-minute slot—joined Galactic onstage for a couple of tunes that were “by request” from visitors to the band’s Web site. The result was a fantastic detour into some classic rock as Galactic once again became the backing band to their guests, who nailed covers of the Band’s take on the Holland/Dozier/Holland classic “Don’t Do It” and the Rolling Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.” Clark turned the funk party into a raging rock and roll show, peaking with the guitar jam out of the Stones tune, which just may have single-handedly averted the path of the snowstorm coming up the East Coast. —A. Stein
Photos courtesy of Dino Perrucci | dinoperrucciphotography.com
Tags: Corey Henry, Cyril Neville, Dino Perrucci, Galactic, Photos, Rebirth Brass Band, Review
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Monday, February 8th, 2010
Hot Chip - Music Hall of Williamsburg - February 6, 2010
After four albums, British electropop band Hot Chip is better than ever. The group, consisting of Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Owen Clarke, Al Doyle and Felix Martin, makes synth-heavy earworms that compel your body to move. Their most recent album, One Life Stand, shows wily songwriting and an expansion of the band’s signature sound. Before a European tour to promote the record, Hot Chip made a couple of stops in New York City, including a sold-out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on Saturday.
From the moment I stepped into the venue, I felt as though I was in a rave. People in the crowd hypnotically pounded their fists to the thumping electronic drum loops. The band, evenly dispersed across the stage, conducted themselves like elder statesmen. Lead singer Taylor delivered his uniquely unassuming and vulnerable vocals while shifting through a number of instruments. Goddard stood stalwart, singing his rhythmically spaced parts. All the while, Clarke, Doyle and Martin created an electronic symphony. The band’s set list displayed their virtuosity and the depth of their catalog. Three songs into their performance, Hot Chip played a rearranged version of “Boy from School” complete with a handclap beat. Although Doyle primarily plays guitar, he complemented the song with his dynamic steel-drum playing.
Weaving through tunes from their previous albums, The Warning and Made in the Dark, Hot Chip cleverly adapted “Ready for the Floor” and brought down the house with “Over and Over.” The crowd was also eagerly introduced to new songs like “One Life Stand” and “Take It In.” After monstrous applause at the end of set, Hot Chip responded with a four-song encore that slowed down the tempo. For a crowd that wildly danced and devotedly sang along, it was a perfect ending to a fantastic performance. —Jared Levy
Photos courtesy of Greg Notch | photography.notch.org/music
Tags: Hot Chip, Music Hall of Will, One Life Stand, Photos, Review
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Friday, February 5th, 2010
Cold Cave - Mercury Lounge - February 4, 2010
It’s hard to even imagine what it would have been like to see the Cure perform in a club the size of Mercury Lounge in the early ’80s. You can’t just chalk it up to pure nostalgia—there’s definitely a reason their sound still resonates through any number of music subsets today. Cold Cave, a band whose name actually describes it perfectly, is one of the direct descendants of that sound. Legend has it the band formed when Wesley Eisold left a successful Boston punk band and started messing around with thrift-store Casio keyboards alongside friends Caralee McElroy, of Xiu Xiu, and Dominick Fernow, of experimental noise band Prurient. Their first 7″ single, “Painted Nails,” was released on Fernow’s Hospital Productions label and has brought about something of a resurgence of Cold Wave minimalist synth that traces its roots directly back to Kraftwerk, Throbbing Gristle and, of course, the original post-punks, Joy Division.
An emaciated Eisold barely moved behind a massive Moog voyager, but he worked up a sweat singing in his slight crooning baritone, with an ingrained punk burst of nihilistic vocals, hands clasped behind his back, looking scarily close to Mr. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” himself. Eisold barely mumbled “thanks” before going into the next pounding inhuman beat from Cold Cave’s debut, Love Comes Close. McElroy played off Eisold’s darkness with her own heavily echoed melodic delivery on songs like “Life Magazine” and providing a back-and-forth harmony on “The Tree’s Grew Emotions and Died,” sort of like an industrial Goth version of the Human League.
The three members of Cold Cave, all dressed in black, use their impressive display of technology, minus the nostalgia, thanks to Fernow, whose sheer massive solo catalog of sound manipulation takes each arrangement to a place other New Wave throwback acts just can’t follow. (Simply playing with every piece of an analog synth keyboard is no substitution for knowing which sounds you want to hear and actually willing them out of the circuits.) The music stays perpetually focused on the icy, emotionless sound, straddling a line between undanceable and undeniably catchy. And all of it comes from three keyboards, just like on Trans-Europe Express. The entire New Wave ’80s wished they sounded this good. —Jason Dean
Tags: Cold Cave, Joy Division, Kraftwerk, Love Comes Close, Mercury Lounge, Review, the Human League, Throbbing Gristle
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Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Retribution Gospel Choir - Mercury Lounge - February 1, 2010
(Photo: Jared Levy)
Less than a week after the release of their sophomore LP, 2, Retribution Gospel Choir played a knock-the-taste-out-of-your-mouth show at Mercury Lounge last night. The band consists of frontman Alan Sparhawk, the singer-songwriter-guitarist from Low, with fellow Low member and bassist Steve Garrington and drummer Eric Pollard. Contrary to Low, Retribution Gospel Choir explores a drastically different sonic region. With quick, grungy and, above all, loud rock songs, Sparhawk displayed a side of himself seldom heard in his other band’s slowcore sound.
Opener Arms and Legs showed charisma and promise during their set. Scott Daly, the sole songwriter and consistent member of the group, presented himself with magnetic intensity and focus. A set spanning originals from their EP Nothing Ever Was and an endearing Daniel Johnston cover kept the lively crowd engaged. Datus, an emerging Brooklyn-based band, followed with a rhythmically intense performance that pushed the show toward its headliner. Ezre Longinus, formerly of Apse, has vicious drumming with fills that literally deconstructed his cymbal and shattered his drum sticks. Though Datus’ set lacked cohesion, songs like “Roof Walker” proved their original material to be engaging and inventive.
Retribution Gospel Choir took to the stage dressed in business attire: button-down shirts, ties and jackets. However, even before the first note, the layers started to come off. And Sparhawk shredded his Gibson electric guitar with an intensity usually reserved for the weekends. He trashed it, pounded it and even played it with his mouth, à la Jimi Hendrix. The group is clearly classic-rock influenced, and on tracks like “Electric Guitar,” the adoration is made apparent. Highlights included the riff-heavy “Poor Man’s Daughter” and the band’s new single, “Hide It Away,” which showcased drummer Pollard’s impressive skills. By their last song, the guys in Retribution Gospel Choir were drenched in sweat and noticeably exhausted. And isn’t that how a rock show should be? —Jared Levy
Tags: 2, Arms and Legs, Datus, Mercury Lounge, Retribution Gospel Choir, Review
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Monday, February 1st, 2010
Earl Greyhound - Brooklyn Bowl - January 30, 2010
Some bands just have that look, like they’ve dropped fully formed out of the rock and roll womb onto the stage. Earl Greyhound is one of those bands. On Saturday night at Brooklyn Bowl, with guitarist Matt Whyte rocking the white jeans and Jesus-style hair and beard, bassist Kamara Thomas working the pow-bang, feather-clipped Afro and Ricc Sheridan, gleaming in full glory from behind the drum kit, was there any doubt that these guys were born to play loud, anxious, hard ’70s-anthem rock and roll?
Starting off slowly with newer material off their upcoming album and then easing into the older stuff, this wasn’t some high-fructose concoction, but the real deal sugar-sweet rock and roll. Each song presented the promise of at least a taste, and then the band would back away from the microphones and delve deeply. Sheridan looked like a child at a full-size drum kit—not because he’s a small guy, far from it, but because his drums looked so oversize. It seems impossible that he could match pounding fury with any subtlety behind such a behemoth, but that’s what he did. Whyte sounded at times like he was playing two guitars at two speeds in two different directions, and even if those stretches of glory didn’t last long enough, they still kept me wanting more. On “Monkey,” the last tune of the encore, Earl Greyhound finally fully opened up into a spacey all-out jam that rose above the falling pins and Saturday night din. —A. Stein
Photos courtesy of Jennifer Macchiarelli | www.jennylow.com
Tags: Brooklyn Bowl, Earl Greyhound, Photos, Review
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Monday, February 1st, 2010
Here We Go Magic - Music Hall of Williamsburg - January 29, 2010
(Photo: Jared Levy)
Advances in music recording have undeniably given musicians greater ability to compose their own projects. Artists like Neon Indian and tUnE yArDs have embraced the DIY spirit, creating their own lo-fi bedroom productions to considerable fanfare. But when it comes to delivering a live performance, these artists have shed their solitary identities and built groups around their sound. Similarly, Luke Temple morphed his self-titled solo record, Here We Go Magic, from an individual endeavor into a budding young band. As Temple notes in interviews: The sonic texture of the album necessitated forming a band. And judging from Friday’s show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, he picked a fantastic group of musicians to complete Here We Go Magic’s sound.
The New York City-based Glass Ghosts and Midnight Masses opened the show. The second band clearly draws its strength from group-oriented music. Midnight Masses is a new side project from …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead multi-instrumentalist Jason Reece and Dragons of Zynth bassist Autry Fulbright. Their band includes two guitarists, a bass player, two drummers and a string section. They frequently featured five-part harmonies that at times were reminiscent of Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Here We Go Magic followed with a smattering of songs from their debut album. As frontman Temple noted during the one-song encore, the band’s oldies only extend to a few months ago. Nevertheless, “Only Pieces” and “Fangela” came to life with fleshed-out vocal arrangements and dynamic instrumental interplay. Bassist Jennifer Turner is truly a talent, providing steady rhythm and excellent harmonizing. The band’s genuine connection and love of playing came through in their music, and I am eager to see how they continue to mature as a group. —Jared Levy
Tags: Glass Ghosts, Here We Go Magic, Midnight Masses, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Photo, Review
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Monday, February 1st, 2010
Cold War Kids - Terminal 5 - January 29, 2010
On one of the coldest nights the city has seen this winter, the California rockers Cold War Kids rewarded the sold-out Terminal 5 crowd for braving the weather with a stunning set. Bathed in dark purple light, the band crawled through a moody intro while four projectors flashed on square screens behind them. Simple and beautifully melodic, their music started out punchy and brimming with blue notes, which set the tone for the rest of the show. The laid-back “Audience” awoke the fans from their winter coma, while the following “Red Wine, Success!” set the groove.
Jonnie Russell’s raw guitar sound expanded all the way to the top floor of the venue, ringing out clear with nothing more than the most basic distortion. And he belted out awesome harmonies that complemented lead singer Nathan Willet’s unique voice. All the while bassist Matt Maust stumbled around the stage, leaning into his bandmates and kicking at the piano stool when Willet manned the keys. By the time they played “Hang Me Up to Dry”—the biggest single off their first album, Robbers & Cowards—the crowd was screaming with excitement, which carried through to the end of the hour-plus set.
The rest of the show featured much more percussive and fast-paced songs, like a rowdy version of “Something Is Not Right with Me,” highlighted by a horns section erratically stomping around the stage, blaring into any available microphone. Willet and his band then treated the crowd twice more: First, they finished their encore with an explosive version of crowd-favorite “We Used to Vacation.” And second, as the fans trekked back out into the cold, they were met with flyers for a free download of the entire concert they had just experienced. —Sean O’Kane
Photos courtesy of Gregg Greenwood | gregggreenwood.com
Tags: Cold War Kids, Gregg Greenwood, Photos, Review, Terminal 5
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Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Bear in Heaven - Mercury Lounge - January 27, 2010
It takes a particular assemblage of circumstances to sell out a concert on a Wednesday. You need appealing bands, an inviting space and good timing. Last night at Mercury Lounge these ingredients came together to create a fantastic show. Headliner Bear in Heaven is three months removed from the release of their critically acclaimed second album, Beast Rest Forth Mouth. While they have steadily built a fan base with their anthemic electronic sound, Beast marks the band’s expansion into more accessible pop songs. And, from the looks of last night’s show, this sonic shift is paying dividends.
Openers ArpLine and the Jaguar Club led the talent-soaked quadruple bill. Both bands are based in Brooklyn and show potential, but ArpLine’s excellent guitar work and contagious energy especially caught my attention. (Check them out at their free record-release show at Brooklyn Bowl on February 17th.) Oh No Ono, a psychedelic quintet from Copenhagen, followed—their first show in New York City. The band, both in appearance and song, carries themselves as a ’60s/’70s rock-revival act. Each member seems to stylistically embody a rock star of old. Most notably, lead singer and guitarist Malthe Fischer sports a crazy curly hairdo that could confuse him with Bob Dylan circa Blonde on Blonde. I thoroughly enjoyed Oh No Ono’s entire set, however their cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes” clearly stood out. They captured Thom Yorke’s vocal part perfectly and added their own synth-heavy touch.
Bear in Heaven closed out the night with a tasty sampling of their catalog. The four-piece band, headed by frontman Jon Philpot, showcased their musical dexterity, constantly switching instruments and creating a full, rich sound. With the help of two female vocalists, the group ripped through their soon-to-be-classic take on youth angst, “Lovesick Teenagers,” followed by the rhythmically commanding “Beast in Peace.” As Bear in Heaven finished their set around midnight, Wednesday gave way to Thursday and the night’s performances solidified into a wonderful midweek memory. —Jared Levy
Photos courtesy of Jared Levy
Tags: ArpLine, Bear in Heaven, Beast Rest Forth Mouth, Brooklyn Bowl, Mercury Lounge, Oh No Ono, Photos, Review, the Jaguar Club
Posted in House List, Photos, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Monday, January 25th, 2010
Free Energy - Brooklyn Bowl - January 22, 2010
Historically speaking, Brooklyn Bowl is situated on a block that Eastern European immigrants built and is now home to a graveyard of low-lying and almost forgotten brick industrial architecture. It hearkens back to a place that Williamsburg used to be, a place that almost does not exist anymore. Inside Brooklyn Bowl, Free Energy took the stage in front of a crowd loosely packed back to the bar. The Philly band, a mixture of winking and willful influences to 1970s rock, took the stage with a confidence both thrown back in time and very much of the present.
Free Energy quickly dove into material from their coming full-length, Stuck on Nothing. Soon-to-be first single “Bang Pop,” a stomping and instantly memorable cut hung in the middle of the set like a vicious linchpin. Lead singer Paul Sprangers, in the simplest of gray sweatshirts, strutted around the stage like a wiry drum major, leading the crowd through the eponymous chorus: “Bang bang/ Pop pop.” It was rife with classic-rock derivation but, at that moment, no one seemed to notice. In the closing moments, the band played “Free Energy,” with its seminal battle cry of youth, “We are young and still alive/ Now the time is on our side,” and “Something in Common,” with a 4/4 time signature and enough inclusive language to make us feel like we had been through something together.
It was an interesting night: A bowling alley with a music venue inside, a neighborhood, both old and desperately new, and a band, with regard for the past, making music they are confident is enduring. Though it sounded like 40 years ago, we were still young and we were certainly alive. Time wasn’t necessarily on our side but it had been successfully removed from the equation. —Geoff Nelson
Photos courtesy of Jen Macchiarelli | www.jennylow.com
Tags: Brooklyn Bowl, Free Energy, Photos, Review
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Friday, January 22nd, 2010
The sidewalk in front of Mercury Lounge was divided into two lines like some sort of downtown apartheid: One for those seeking to pay their way in to see Britt Daniel and the other for those with their names on the guest list. They were faced in opposite directions—the music-industry insiders and the morally righteous superfans willing to stand in the cold and pay real money for music. It was thus written on the street that something special was happening inside. A band that will play Radio City Music Hall in two months was playing this tiny sold-out venue.
Spoon took the stage just after 10 and, Daniel, in a brown fitted shirt (he wrote an entire song about this in 2001), was awkward in the way cool people can get away with being weird and compelling. He thanked us for coming, and the room buzzed with the sense that we should be thanking him. Spoon slipped into “Black Like Me,” maybe their most cerebral effort, before shifting into “Is Love Forever?,” off their latest album, Transference, a downstroke anthem that ends with a collision of reverb and the feeling of a pulled plug. Daniel played most of the new record, including “Who Makes Your Money” and “Nobody Gets Me but You,” in the first half of the set. The crowd, quite obviously a sea of personal and music-business connections, leaned close and the room approached the feeling of a birthday party where everyone was sure their invitation was genuine.
Daniel upped the ante in the set’s final third. Favorites “Cherry Bomb,” “I Summon You” and “Beast and Dragon, Adored,” appeared next to new cuts like “Mystery Zone,” “Written in Reverse” and the night’s closer, the propulsive “Got Nuffin.” Daniel thanked us again for standing in the cold and we silently replied that we mostly hadn’t. But some did, and for the feeling of a major event with a big band in a little room, this is exactly what counted. —Geoff Nelson
Tags: Mercury Lounge, Review, Spoon, Transference
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Tuesday, January 19th, 2010
Vampire Weekend - Webster Hall - January 18, 2010
The four boys of Vampire Weekend took the stage last night at Webster Hall with an enormous screen-printed cover of their latest album, Contra, hanging behind them. The face of the blonde from the 50-foot-high cover art stared ominously out at the crowd. The band smiled winningly and immediately waltzed into “White Sky,” an amphetamine-amped angle on a chord progression from Paul Simon’s “Under African Skies.” If it was a night of influences, it was also a homecoming—an ode to all the chosen parts that made the album art stand five stories high.
It would be a set of contradictions, songs half drawn from their eponymous debut album and the other from their six-day-old sophomore effort. From the outset, the band ripped through “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” “M79” and stand-out live track “Cousins.” Keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij, frontman Ezra Koenig and bassist Chris Baio all all wore blue checked dress shirts, in the kind of gesture that is either hilariously planned or embarrassingly accidental. In the dead middle, the band played the haunting “Taxi,” lit from below, casting huge shadows on the face of their album art. It was impossible not to think of these four as shadow giants, both legitimately enormous and completely inflated in the light of their new celebrity.
After the equally spot-on “Diplomat’s Son,” Koenig thanked the crowd for joining the band on “this odyssey of growing up.” The band then played the opening to “Giving Up the Gun,” a meditation on modernism and the loss of innocence in the face of flux. Of course, as much as Vampire Weekend is different than the band we saw three years ago, they still closed with “Walcott.” It was a song of departure for a band just arriving. In the city that bore them, an unflinching, five-story stare hung in the background and shadows shuffled off to stage right. —Geoff Nelson
Photos courtesy of Greg Notch | photography.notch.org/music
Tags: Contra, Photos, Review, Vampire Weekend, Webster Hall
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Monday, January 18th, 2010
Brian Fallon - The Bowery Ballroom - January 15, 2010
On Friday night, two frontmen stepped away from their bands to play solo sets before a sold-out Bowery Ballroom crowd. Dave Hause, frontman for Philadelphia’s the Loved Ones, opened the show playing a selection of solo material and Loved Ones songs (like “Living Will (Get You Dead)” and “The Odds”) and a cover of the Explosion’s “God Bless the S.O.S.”
Shortly after Hause left the stage, Brian Fallon, frontman for the Gaslight Anthem—out of New Brunswick, N.J.—appeared. Though he didn’t showcase any of his solo work or new stuff from his band, Fallon did play a great combination of covers (including Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” and Kelly Clarkson’s “I Do Not Hook Up”) and released TGA material (“Great Expectations,” “The ’59 Sound,” “Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts,” “Miles Davis & the Cool,” “We Came to Dance”).
Early in the set, Fallon said, “When you’re playing with a live band, you try not to ruin it by talking too much. Tonight I’m going to ruin it by talking.” Far from ruining anything, he spoke about bandmate (and show attendee) Alex Levine’s genius-ness, watching Metallica on VH1 Classic and how CCR easily could have been a punk band. Later, when zealous fans incessantly called out song titles, he jokingly asked, “Is this Henry Rollins’ fault?” and laughed about Rollins asking the crowd what they think he should play. The show ended with Hause joining Fallon onstage for four songs, all covers, including the outstanding “Ball and Chain” by Social Distortion. —Kirsten Housel
Photos courtesy of Kirsten Housel
Tags: Bowery Ballroom, Brian Fallon, Dave Hause, Photos, Review, the Gaslight Anthem, the Loved Ones
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Monday, January 18th, 2010
Gang Gang Dance - Music Hall of Williamsburg - January 15, 2010
If there were an argument to be made for the disappearing geographic lines in music, Gang Gang Dance would be a prime example. They seem to have an endless array of international influences and rotating styles that makes up their eclectic world dance-music sound. Incorporating everything from the hip-hop vocals of UK grime star Tinchy Stryder on “Princes” to an Argentinian pan flute or a broken Casio keyboard, the group deftly mashes it all together over African-influenced rhythms in an attempt to create something entirely their own.
Gang Gand Dance’s songwriting process is evident in their live performance. They are clearly comfortable with the experimental nature of the material from their 2008 album, Saint Dymphna, released by Brooklyn’s own Social Registry Records. Similar to God’s Money, Gang Gang Dance entered the studio with nothing predetermined, instead creating songs on the spot through a lengthy evolving process. Onstage they have an inherent comfort with one another, built on countless practice sessions of blindly creating and channeling something outside themselves. It’s a stream-of-consciousness approach to music, stepping away from the individual and ego.
Just offstage, friends of the band, decked out in crocheted multicolor Mexican ski masks, danced to Jesse Lee’s pounding tribal rhythms, while Liz Bougatsos completed the siren song with mostly raw emotive vocals manipulated with processors of all kinds at her feet. It’s a deliberate antihierarchical take on sound, and they are all equally relevant in their expression. The group ends up truly unclassifiable, with their all-encompassing style easily crossing the lines between dance, experimental and house music. Hearing the songs taking shape and evolving in front of you is a unique experience: It’s never going to exactly happen this way again, and undeniably it’s the sheer energy of their performance that was the draw for the sold-out show. —Jason Dean
Tags: Gang Gang Dance, God's Money, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Review, Saint Dymphna, Social Registry Records
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