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Bowery Ballroom Crowd Takes a Seat for the Milk Carton Kids

May 20th, 2013

The Milk Carton Kids – The Bowery Ballroom – May 19, 2013


There were two rare occurrences at The Bowery Ballroom last night. The first was that the venue was set up with seats—a sit-down affair for the Milk Carton Kids. The duo, Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan, played in just a rectangle of light with four microphones onstage, one each for their voices and their guitars. Working largely from material off their new album, The Ash & Clay, the pair proved to be worthy of a seated show, better the audience to sit in hushed awe, savoring the fantastic two-part harmonies and every crisp note from the acoustic guitars.

While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it’s a two-way street, and if the Milk Carton Kids sound like they’re imitating the bluegrass-y folk of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, it’s just as flattering for the upstarts to be compared favorably to the gold standard of the genre. The music was a delight, early set highlights being the opening “Hope of a Lifetime” and “Honey, Honey,” the latter featuring the first of many great guitar solos from Pattengale, mixing bluegrass, country and old school swing jazz in a mix that could give Rawlings a run for his money. Music wasn’t the only thing they offered, though. For the same price of admission, the full house was treated to a two-man comedy team, a cross between Abbott and Costello and the Smothers Brothers, with Pattengale mostly playing the straight man to Ryan’s understated ramblings.

The banter truly felt like bits, Ryan starting off on one theme and then riffing his way through highbrow humor, drawing real laughter from the crowd. The line between the serious and the not so serious was thin for these guys, and at times nonexistent, like during “Charlie,” when a botched song became an opportunity for a one-liner or two. Still, it was the music itself that had the folks sitting at attention, the perfect blend of harmony and guitar playing in “Michigan” being a personal representative highlight. And that second rare occurrence? It happened right before the Dylan-esque, venue-appropriate encore of “New York”: a well-deserved standing ovation. —A. Stein

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Great Music for a Worthy Cause

May 20th, 2013

Philip Glass, Real Estate and Friends – Music Hall of Williamsburg – May 19, 2013


The Big Sur Brooklyn Bridge Festival, a weeklong series of events organized around Williamsburg by the Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur, Calif., brought together iconic modern composer Philip Glass along with a well-curated bevy of local musical talents at Music Hall of Williamsburg last night for the festival’s closing concert. Many of the evening’s performers cited the influence and inspiration that Glass’s music has had on their own—and this is perhaps most apparent in the music of pianist and composer Nico Muhly, who performed movements from his dynamic composition “Drones & Piano” with the help of violinist Tim Fain, violist Nadia Sirota and guitarist Bryce Dessner, of the National, who took a cue from the others and used a bow on the strings of his guitar.

Citing Glass’s ability to “do so much with so little,” Dessner also performed a solo guitar improvisation wherein he drew sound from his electric guitar without ever touching the strings. Holding his guitar upside down, Dessner masterfully manipulated the instrument utilizing distortion pedals and feedback, banging and scraping the neck of the guitar on the floor, and using his hands to tap out rhythms on the back, managing to craft an impressively cohesive piece, sans strings.

Rounding out the evening’s contributors were Real Estate, doing a melodic, mellow performance, and wry-pop songwriter Sondre Lerche, who self-deprecatingly asked, “What am I doing here?” while treating the crowd to a lively set that included “Sleep on Needles,” which the singer noted was a song Glass seemed to enjoy during sound check. With the rest of the artists having set the mood for the arrival of Philip Glass, the composer was warmly welcomed onstage, and began by collaborating with Fain for a rendition of “Pendulum.” Glass then brought out everyone else to perform “The Chase,” from his opera Orphée, announcing somewhat amazed: “We actually figured a piece that we can all play together.” Indeed, like much of Glass’s work, the up-tempo piece was hypnotic and lively, and had a unique edge due to the electric-guitar heavy band. For the encore, Glass appeared alone at his piano, closing the show with the fittingly titled “Closing.” The song was spare and beautiful, and along with the tributes from the other performers, an example of his singular talent and profound influence. —Alena Kastin

 

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This Time, It Was Unusual

May 20th, 2013

Tom Jones – The Bowery Ballroom – May 18, 2013


Tom Jones dominated the charts in the ’60s and ’70s with megahits like “It’s Not Unusual,” “Delilah,” and “What’s New Pussycat?” But you may also know him from his covers of Prince and Talking Heads, or from James Bond, or even from the Carlton dance on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Now, though, take everything you know about Tom Jones and throw it out the window. He just released a new album, Spirit in the Room, that, at the age of 72, completely transforms the singer. It’s the second album Jones has made with producer Ethan Johns, and it’s stunning. Like their first highly acclaimed collaboration, Praise & Blame, it puts Jones in a minimal setting. Forget the ass-shaking, panties-throwing go-go music of yesteryear—this is Jones, stripped down and personal.

But that’s not to say that Jones stopped being himself: He put on a phenomenal show at—of all places—The Bowery Ballroom on Saturday night. If you were lucky enough to snatch a ticket to the sold-out show, you could hear him in top form. His voice still booms across the room, he still swings his hips onstage and he still screams like James Brown when the moment calls for it. But he played not one of his hits, and it didn’t matter. He’s still got it. Jones opened with Leonard Cohen’s “Tower of Song,” singing softly to an enraptured crowd: “Well my friends are gone/ And my hair is gray/ I ache in the places where I used to play.” The song served as a sober reflection on his life and career, which, after 50 years, is still going strong. And Jones is enjoying it. “It’s Saturday night, isn’t it?” he asked. “Sometimes I can’t even remember if it’s Saturday night or not. Every night is Saturday night for me. Every day is Christmas Day.” —Alex Kapelman

Photos courtesy of Gregg Greenwood | gregggreenwood.com

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Kurt Vile’s Picking Up Steam

May 17th, 2013

Kurt Vile and the Violators – The Bowery Ballroom – May 16, 2013


Kurt Vile cares a lot about his sound. This could be said of most musicians, of course, but anyone familiar with Vile’s work knows that it’s all those little details that make his music so remarkable. All those guitar ditties that weasel their way into your head and never leave end up defining his songs as a whole. A lot of bands tend to leave these nuanced details out of their live show—or bury them sonically so that they’re hardly audible under everything else. But with Kurt Vile, he ensures that all those nuances are accounted for. And with the help of his backing band, the Violators, and a stage littered with effects pedals and guitars of every stripe, there’s an impressive depth to his live sound that’s easy on the ears.

Vile kicked off his show last night at The Bowery Ballroom with the title track to his latest album, Wakin on a Pretty Daze. He came out wearing a white denim jacket, white denim jeans and white Converse. All this white made his iconic gnarled mop of hair all the more noticeable. And when the jacket came off by the second song, you could see that it was lined with leopard print. For such an unassuming fellow, Vile’s got some subtle swag. While watching his guitar skills on “Jesus Fever,” it became noticeable that he comes from the J Mascis school of “let me throw down a huge and searing guitar riff without making it look like it takes any effort at all.”

Vile’s guitar playing is fun to watch, in part for how unconventional it is. At times during “Was All Talk,” he bent his thumb over his guitar neck to assist his other fingers. Toward the middle of the set, the Violators left Vile behind with just an acoustic guitar to play softer renditions of “Snowflakes Are Dancing” and “Peeping Tomboy.” The band returned for the loudest moment of the set, “Freak Train,” played with such krautrock momentum that the song seemed unstoppable. It eventually wound down out to an end, as did the show, but for the Kurt Vile train, this thing’s just starting to pick up steam. —Dan Rickershauser

Photos courtesy of Peter Senzamici | petersenzamici.com

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MS MR Release New Album, Sell Out The Bowery Ballroom

May 16th, 2013

MS MR – The Bowery Ballroom – May 15, 2013


MS MR set the bar high for their first headlining tour by playing a sold-out show at The Bowery Ballroom last night one day after the release of Secondhand Rapture, the New York City–based electro-pop outfit’s highly anticipated first full-length album. Following a splendid set from openers Magic Man—who endeared themselves to the crowd with infectious energy and great rock and roll sensibility—MS MR took the stage to uproarious applause. Lizzy Plapinger and Max Hershenow, the MS and MR behind the band’s moniker, took hold of the audience from the outset and delighted us with a set that sent emotional electricity pulsing through the air.

Crowd favorite “Bones” opened the set, instantly sending the audience into an enraptured state. Eerie candelabras that produced syncopated lighting furnished the stage, and the lights changed color throughout the set to reflect the evolution of MS MR’s symphonic sound. The performance bloomed with renditions of “Salty Sweet,” “Think of You” and “BTSK.” The cover of Patrick Wolf’s “Time of My Life” that followed garnered plenty of adoration. Plapinger and Hershenow danced mischievously during “Fantasy” and then dipped into a darker realm for “Dark Doo Wop” and “Head Is Not My Home,” both of which are filled with apocalyptic visions and brooding lyrics.

Plapinger then launched into the simple, anthemic “Ash Tree Lane.” To the crowd’s surprise and delight, the next song was a clever cover of LCD Soundsystem’s “Dance Yrself Clean.” “We’ve always wanted to do that!” she said, beaming at its conclusion. “Hurricane” provided the ideal finale for a theatrical journey through the band’s repertoire. MS MR’s music is simultaneously tragic and euphoric, making the nuanced experience of hearing the music live greatly satisfying. The band brought an appealing sense of humility to performing a sold-out show at a venue they so admire. MS MR make their television debut tonight on The Late Show with David Letterman, and they’re sure to continue their tour with the same gusto and grace they showed us last night. —Schuyler Rooth

Photos courtesy of Lauren Glucksman

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Foxygen Close Out NYC Road Trip at Mercury Lounge

May 16th, 2013

Foxygen – Mercury Lounge – May 15, 2013


Bicoastal buds Sam France (Olympia, Wash.) and Jonathan Rado (New York City) comprise the duo known as Foxygen. And after hearing their song “San Francisco,” this City by the Bay native couldn’t help but get hooked on the sounds reminiscent of late-’60s Haight Ashbury. After a close call at SXSW, the boys have rested and recovered to play a trio of New York City shows this week, culminating in a sold-out Mercury Lounge gig last night. Appropriately, the venue served as the breakthrough for the band since they passed along their Take the Kids Off to Broadway EP to eventual We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic producer Richard Swift (the Shins, Damien Jurado) at a Mynabirds show at the Merc in early 2011.

Amongst a largely male crowd, France greeted the crowd with an ecstatic “Wassup?” followed by a scream that opened into “Jesusss.” Clad in black, France pranced around stage singing “On Blue Mountain” and emphatically thrusting his fist into the air. His usual stage antics had him confessing, “I don’t care if I’m in trouble at all. I’m an idiot. I don’t care. I don’t blame you. I suck.” Fans soaked up his banter and rocked along to “In the Darkness” and “Make It Known.”

As bassist Justin Nijssen sipped from his bottle of wine, France took a moment to introduce his onstage cast of characters before getting into fan favorite “Shuggie,” to a sea of bobbing heads, and then Foxygen’s recent single, “No Destruction.” The remainder of the evening was set to a cacophony of France’s screeching vocals, organ chimes and heavy basslines. The frontman climbed atop amps and the drum kit for their recent LP’s title track, “We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic.” No encore was played: “Our shit’s broken,” announced France. But that didn’t seem to bother exiting concertgoers. One even playfully concluded, “I want what they are on.” —Sharlene Chiu

Photos courtesy of Mike Benigno | mikebenigno.wordpress.com

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Matthew E. White Quietly Delivers

May 14th, 2013

Matthew E. White – The Bowery Ballroom – May 13, 2013


What is it that Teddy Roosevelt said? “Speak softly and carry a big stick”? Well, Matthew E. White sings softly and carries a big stick, namely his backing band. It’s hard to call a six-piece outfit a small band, but for Virginia Beach, Va., native White, who’s played and recorded with literally dozens of musicians at a time, the sextet he played with at The Bowery Ballroom last night was a decidedly slimmed-down affair. Still, when you’ve got a guy who’s equally up to playing some delicious countrified pedal steel as he is a rollicking piano, and a bass player who grooves like he backed Herbie Hancock in his Headhunters prime, in addition to the drummer, percussion and keys players locked into your sound, six is a big enough stick.

The group walked out to Stevie Wonder’s “Jesus Children of America” which, on Wonder’s birthday, seemed plenty deliberate for White, who matches soul with a Wonder-esque funkiness and whose music is accented by his personal faith. The set got moving with “One of These Days” and the ultragroovy “Steady Pace,” from last year’s Big Inner. These were prime examples of White’s style: soft, heartfelt vocals that melted into a steady buildup by the band, typically climbing to a surprising, ecstatic off-center climax. The band’s country-funk chops were on full display in a perfect cover of Neil Young’s “Are You Ready for the Country,” featuring the highlight pedal steel playing in a set filled with them. Although his vocals sounded great, White confessed it was a heavy dose of steroids that were keeping his sick throat up to the task and warned the side effects included extreme crankiness and irritability. Of course, he said this in his sweet, give-me-a-hug demeanor. It seemed perfect that White’s self-proclaimed “drinking song” was called “Hot Toddies” and featured a gorgeous, quiet minimalist section before a punchy finale. This is a groovy party band almost in spite of itself.

The heaviest hitter of the set was “Big Love,” a White masterpiece, mixing all the elements, in one high-energy heart-pumper, the band playing it loose, showing the clear comfort of musicians who know they’ll all get back to the same place, regardless of the different paths they take along the way. The set closed with a powerful one-two whack from the stick—“Gone Away” and “Brazos,” the latter a 10- minute mountain of a song that built upon a percolating bassline that appeared to lack a beginning or an end. It’s one of those songs that seems fit for a hundred musicians in a church in Virginia to do its climactic coda justice, but on a Monday night in NYC, White and his band were plenty big. —A. Stein

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Shout Out Louds Dazzle a Bigger Room

May 13th, 2013

Shout Out Louds – Webster Hall – May 10, 2013


It seems like it would be tough to quickly one-up a sold-out show at Music Hall of Williamsburg that happened just days after releasing a new album (Optica), but Shout Out Louds found a way to do just that with their massive show at Webster Hall on Friday night. The Swedish pop-rock band performed with humble grins as they played songs primarily from their last two albums, and they—or specifically, lead singer Adam Olenius—seemed overwhelmed by the crowd’s familiarity with the new material. The two floors of fans cheered from the moment Shout Out Louds opened with Optica’s first track, “Sugar,” and they didn’t settle down until after the band had finished, more than an hour and a half later.

The five-piece’s live show isn’t necessarily remarkable in any outrageous way, but that also means they shy away from leaning on gimmicks and distractions. But since the band’s songwriting is so strong (see: “14th of July” or “Fall Hard”) and their performance is so earnest, they still know how to wow a crowd. Surrounded by a constant fog, which, lit by towering light posts around the stage, glowed ice blue and wood-fire orange, the band split time between recreating more lively versions of those recorded tracks and engaging the Webster Hall audience. Olenius even told a story about the group’s first New York City show, at which there were fewer people than there were buckets on the floor catching rainwater leaking through the dingy venue’s ceiling. Not long after his tale, Olenius had to struggle to make his way to the middle of the venue before sitting down in the crowd during the end of show-capper “Tonight I Have to Leave It.” Oh, how far they’ve come. —Sean O’Kane

Photos courtesy of Sean O’Kane | seanokanephoto.com

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The Legendary Steve Earle Never Disappoints

May 9th, 2013

Steve Earle and the Dukes – Music Hall of Williamsburg – May 8, 2013


Steve Earle is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. He was first introduced to me as the character Walon on The Wire, the kind-hearted sponsor seeing Bubbles through rehab. More recently he was the street performer Harley on the New Orleans–based, post-Katrina Treme. In the mid to late ’80s, he was a country rocker getting a taste of mainstream success. In the ’90s, he battled his way through drug addiction, becoming stronger in the process, and put out some of the best music of his life—moving much closer to the folk-rock singer-songwriter realm, penning songs designed to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Earle’s never shied away from politics, taking on all kinds of activist roles. With his heart on his sleeve, Earle’s an easy guy to like, and through all these chapters of his life, he’s built an interesting persona.

The Steve Earle of today is one happy fellow. It shows onstage, and he’ll be the first to admit it. “This is the best band I have ever had,” Earle told the Music Hall of Williamsburg crowd last night as he introduced the four backing members of his band, the Dukes. He repeated this claim when discussing his inspiration for his latest album, The Low Highway, telling the audience, “I wanted to record an album with the best band I’ve ever had.” This doesn’t feel like hyperbole: The band is perfect for Earle, and it’s a demanding role considering his music hits on just about every genre, seems to involve every instrument imaginable and is as powerful as it is in hard-rocking loud moments as it is in hushed and fragile ones. The back of the stage was filled with an impressive lineup of guitars, mandolins, banjos and just about every other stringed instrument you could imagine.

Earle’s set included favorites for every fan imaginable, classics like “Copperhead Road,” “Guitar Town” and “Hard-Core Troubadour,” plus newer tunes like “The Galway Girl” and “You’re Still Standing There.” Earle introduced his heartfelt tribute to New Orleans, “This City,” as a song that now also speaks just as well to the hurricane-ravaged neighborhoods of our own New York City. For “I Thought You Should Know,” he blew through a gnarled harmonica solo, playing the instrument so close to the microphone that it simultaneously sounded familiar and rough around the edges, with the wailing harmonica sounds barely escaping through layers of distortion and grit. If there ever were a moment to perfectly capture what Earle’s music and life are all about, it was this one. —Dan Rickershauser

Photos courtesy of Mike Benigno | mikebenigno.wordpress.com

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A Cathartic Night with Daughter at The Bowery Ballroom

May 1st, 2013

Daughter – The Bowery Ballroom – April 30, 2013


When Katy Perry name-drops one of your tracks in a tweet about her recent breakup with serial dater John Mayer, people will take notice. The British trio Daughter emerged with lead singer Elena Tonra’s delicately acoustic songs and bloomed with the addition of guitarist Igor Haefeli and drummer Remi Aguilella. Playing the first of two sold-out shows at The Bowery Ballroom last night, Tonra remarked, “I’m going to make sure I’m in tune.” The three began the evening with “In the Shallows” and followed with the appropriately celebratory “Candles,” on the day their debut album, If You Leave, was released.

The group’s music melds heart-aching lyrics with a slow build of discontent into a crescendo of fury and hate. On “Still,” Tonra chanted: “Two feet standing on a principle/ Two hands longing for each others warmth/ Cold smoke seeping out of colder throats/ Darkness falling, leaves nowhere to go,” while Aguilella thumped on the kick drum and Haefeli created a chamber of reverb from his electric guitar. The crowd erupted for the aforementioned celebrity breakup song, “Landfill.” And in between thanking the audience, Tonra confessed that on her trip over to the States she came close to popping her eardrum. She hadn’t, thankfully, and was supplied with some medication that left her in a euphoric mood, which was quite the antithesis of the songs “Run” and “Smother.”

As the show neared its end, the best was saved for last as fan-favorite “Youth” drew in the onlookers to sing along to a chorus of “You caused it.” Closing the set with “Home,” the choral echoes of “Take me, take me, home” reminded me of the Welsh artist “Jem’s Save Me,” with its similar repetitive phrasing delivered in an almost yodel. The threesome returned for a special encore—a mash-up of Bon Iver’s “Perth” and Hot Chip’s “Ready for the Floor,” which beautifully reimagined the two tracks as a slow dance party in a log cabin. Although the night was a downtempo breakup extravaganza, no one left with a broken heart as couples exited hand in hand from the instant catharsis. —Sharlene Chiu

(Watch Daughter do a stripped-down version of “Youth” and an interview with The Bowery Presents Live.)

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Jim James Lights Up Webster Hall

April 30th, 2013

Jim James – Webster Hall – April 29, 2013


Jim James is a human sunset: the multihued snapshot-worthy phenomenon bridging day and night. So it made perfect sense that the stage backdrop for his way-sold-out Webster Hall show last night was an array of LEDs spoked like the rays of the sun as it passes over the horizon—and it even displayed the colors to match. Opening with “State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U.),” the lead track off his new Regions of Light and Sound of God album, James appropriately sang, “You need the dark as much as the sun” as his backing band laid down a vicious nighttime groove.

The rest of the show was essentially a live version of the album, a set that felt broken into a few smaller parts. The opening number coupled with the heavy keys-and-bass “Know Til Now” represented James’s “Don’t worry, Webster Hall, I brought my own disco” portion of the night, the audience matching the energy from the stage as best they could. Next was a quieter, more acoustic section, marked by the beautiful instrumental “Exploding” followed by the pretty-melody section highlighted by “Of the Mother Again,” the lights flipping between sky blue and cloud white while a very funky extended Rhodes vamp churned the crowd. The set closed with a dark last-purple-throes-of-daylight pairing, headed by “All Is Forgiven,” with a constant swell of bass guitar and a marked rise in intensity that was stretched out into wonderful, mysterious-shroud territory.

Throughout, James’s presence was the focus. His activity was like an ’80s movie montage of motion, touching the extended fingers of those in the front row with his own, like E.T. with a cosmic cure-all, dancing away like an extra in Footloose with uninhibited glee and even doing some sort of mutation of Daniel LaRusso’s crane technique. Still, when it came down to it, his band carried the show. Whether it was an early set drum solo, full-groove keyboard playing, heavy guitar distortion or the constant funky bass, members of the audience were constantly craning their necks to see who was playing what and from where which sound was coming. As they followed James through a five-song, B-sides and rarities kind of encore that included “His Master’s Voice” and “The Right Place” off the Monsters of Folk album, it seemed this band needed their own name, an identity of their own. I think Jim James and the Sunsets has a nice ring to it. —A. Stein

Photos courtesy of Gregg Greenwood | gregggreenwood.com

(Jim James and the Roots play Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park on 6/18, and My Morning Jacket, Wilco and Bob Dylan play Pier A in Hoboken, N.J., on 7/26.)

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The Neighbourhood Are a Band on the Rise

April 30th, 2013

The Neighbourhood – The Bowery Ballroom – April 29, 2013


The Neighbourhood are the anti-Beatles. Let me explain: In 1964, the Beatles jumped across the pond and invaded the United States. With their matching mop tops, sweet songs, and happy-go-lucky attitude, the Fab Four induced a complete craziness among teenage girls that might never be equaled (despite Bieber Fever). Forty-nine years later, California indie band (despite the English spelling) the Neighbourhood, played The Bowery Ballroom. With their matching buzzed heads, epic songs, and übermasculine attitude, the Neighbourhood induced crazy make-out sessions among adults last night.

I’m being dramatic, sure, but it’s true. Where the Beatles killed with catchy pop, the Neighbourhood are a little more subtle. Their songs burn slow until they get hot and overpower. The rhythm section pounds away at a steady, driving thump while guitars build a landscape beneath Jesse Rutherford’s vocals. The frontman holds together everything with his cool phrasing, singing alternately into a standard vocal microphone and a blues harmonica microphone, which gave his voice more bite, à la Julian Casablancas.

All of this is not to say that the band doesn’t have fun or that the audience becomes the New York City stereotype of dispassionate concertgoers. The Neighbourhood have built a true live show, where they engage the crowd and bring fans into their world. “I’m gonna be that guy right now,” said Rutherford as he asked for some call-and-response participation. He didn’t have to care about being “that guy,” because the audience was completely enraptured by him all along. It may not fair to compare the Neighbourhood to the Beatles, but soon enough, they’ll be a household name. —Alex Kapelman

(Go see the Neighbourhood play Music Hall of Williamsburg on 6/26 and The Bowery Ballroom on 6/29.)

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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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Josh Rouse Is Totally in Charge

April 29th, 2013

Josh Rouse – The Bowery Ballroom – April 27, 2013


Usually if you look around a room, it’s the person who’s most relaxed who’s actually in charge. That was definitely the case on Saturday night at The Bowery Ballroom as Josh Rouse, with his easygoing vibe and laid-back sound—singer-songwriter folkie with a no-worry groove and a tinge of country—was in complete command. Rouse’s organic- honey voice was matched perfectly by a backing band that filled in with sweet-aroma guitar riffs and spring-breeze bass playing.

It turned out to be date night, couples of all stripes singing along as Rouse and his band played from his entire catalog, including most of his new album, The Happiness Waltz. These were the kinds of songs that you’d put on a mixtape for the girl you were sweet on, each tune seemed to be somebody’s highlight, with someone turning to a significant other to say, “This one’s my favorite!” Whether it was “Flight Attendant,” with its long intro and hint of a Latin beat, “1972,” with its nostalgic storytelling, or “Summertime,” with its delicious-watermelon groove, the crowd was rapt and the band was just chilling. Seventy minutes in and Rouse had barely broken a sweat with his hammock-swinging, lemonade-sipping repertoire, while the audience’s screamed requests grew increasingly desperate.

As the crowd thinned with couples heading out to catch a train, pay off the babysitter or do whatever it is that couples do after a commanding Josh Rouse set, the band closed with an appropriately sexy “Comeback,” laying down an acoustic disco that continued as Rouse left the stage. What could be more laid-back than having your band vamp a killer set closer while you chill backstage? Just in case the audience really believed Rouse and Co. hadn’t been working their butts off all night, they returned for a three-song encore of “Lemon Tree,” “Sad Eyes” and a high-energy “Love Vibration,” once again, leaving no doubt who was in charge. —A. Stein

Photos courtesy of Mike Benigno | mikebenigno.wordpress.com

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A Hip-Hop-Filled Friday at The Bowery Ballroom

April 29th, 2013

Shabazz Palaces/THEESatisfaction – The Bowery Ballroom – April 26, 2013


I’ll admit it: I have a bias against bands that use prerecorded backing tracks at shows. I know that it’s a tough time for musicians. And I know that backing tracks are much cheaper than touring with a full band. But in my mind there’s something inherently wrong about replacing a human with a machine. It just seems fake to me. And it’s not as exciting as seeing a real person, who, at any moment, can make a mistake—or transcend any perceived boundaries and amaze everyone. Which is why I don’t go to a lot of hip-hop shows. Very few rappers perform with bands, and my stubbornness in my beliefs colors my judgment even as I consider shows to attend. But I couldn’t miss THEESatisfaction and Shabazz Palaces at The Bowery Ballroom on Friday night.

The two Seattle duos create some of the most interesting hip-hop music today, and, backing tracks be damned, I was going to go see that happen live. And I’m glad I did. Rapper Stas Iron and singer Cat Harris-White, performing as THEESatisfaction, hit the stage first, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a band perform with more confidence. They used their laid-back, soulful beats from last year’s debut, awE naturalE, as a launching pad for the perfect interplay between Iron’s on-point rhythm and Harris-White’s smooth melodies. And they delighted the audience with some charming choreography.

That set served as a perfect warm-up for the headliners. On paper, Shabazz Palaces are intriguing: The group features former Digable Planets member Ishmael Butler (Palaceer Lazaro) and multi-instrumentalist Baba Maraire, the son of African drumming legend Dumisani Maraire. On wax, the band is immersive: The music is lush and contemplative. But onstage, the band is electric: They transformed the enveloping beats of their three records into hard-hitting jams. Butler is a force to be reckoned with on the microphone, both with his lyrics and flow. He commanded the crowd’s attention with his high voice, which perfectly cut through the thick backing tracks. Maraire never stopped playing something percussive, and he didn’t discriminate, cycling through a hi-hat, electronic drum pads and African shakers. Of course, all of this happened over a backing track. But as much as the devil on my shoulder tried to get me to hate on the show, THEESatisfaction and Shabazz Palaces finally let me break through my biases. —Alex Kapelman

 

 

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