Photos courtesy of Abi Hassen
Posts Tagged ‘the Dig’
The Dig - Mercury Lounge - June 5, 2010
Monday, June 7th, 2010
Dig on This: a Record-Release Party at Mercury Lounge
Friday, June 4th, 2010David Baldwin and Emile Mosseri became fast friends in sixth grade and started playing in bands together. They met Erick Eiser at a high school summer music program, and three years ago, they all moved to New York City and began writing songs under the name the Dig. They did whatever it took to get their name out—playing wherever and whenever and blanketing the streets with a never-ending supply of posters. Soon the Dig (above, playing “Carry Me Home” for Fearless Music) released their debut EP, Good Luck and Games, and with a little perseverance they earned three month-long residencies at Piano’s. Somewhere along the way, a fourth member, Jamie Alegre, joined the group, and as their fan base increased, so did the size of the venues they played in while opening for others. And now the band has a full-length disc, Electric Toys, coming out next Tuesday. So before the Dig hits the road, they’re having a record-release party at Mercury Lounge on Saturday. Consider yourself invited.
Editors Finally Return to NYC
Monday, February 22nd, 2010Editors - Terminal 5 - February 19, 2010
After a two-year absence from playing in New York City, Editors returned to Terminal 5 on Friday night with a great set and a ton of passion. Following two stellar opening performances by the Dig and the Antlers, lead singer Tom Smith warmed the crowd with a sharp, nearly totally instrumental opening song. When moving to the second song, “Lights,” he laughed off how out of tune his guitar was, grabbing another from his tech. And as they jaunted through their set, it was easy to tell just how focused they were on pleasing the crowd, something that went over well with the packed house.
Their music, familiar to most New Yorkers, thanks to the presence of hometown rockers like Interpol, had the crowd’s attention for the entire hour-and-a-half set. Drummer Ed Lay mixed in heavy doses of a drum machine with his actual drumming, strengthening the band’s modern take on the ’80s Brit-rock sound that borrowed heavily from bands like Joy Division and the Cure. Smith never stayed static, even while at his piano, switching microphones and never giving the crowd the same look twice from song to song. Still doing all they could to please by the end, Editors finished their set with the hit “Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors,” and then taking their encore past the posted 11:00 p.m. curfew. —Sean O’Kane
Photos courtesy of Jennifer Macchiarelli | www.jennylow.com
Win Tickets to Tomorrow Night’s Editors Show
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
The post-punk UK band Editors—singer-guitarist Tom Smith, guitarist Chris Urbanowicz, bassist Russell Leetch and drummer Ed Lay—released their first album, The Back Room, in 2005. The buzz from that earned them appearances at Coachella and Lollapalooza the following year. The band’s second disc, An End Has a Start, released in 2007, went platinum in the UK the very day it was released. Not wanting to rest on their laurels, the guys in Editors (above, playing “Papillon” on Later…with Jools Holland) opted to take their sound in a different direction in choosing to use synthesizers on 2009’s In This Light and on This Evening rather than sticking with the dark guitar rock they’d employed on their previous two albums. But you can judge which style you like best when Editors (with the Antlers and the Dig) play Terminal 5 tomorrow night.
Want to go but don’t have tickets? Then try to win two from The House List. Just fill out the form below, listing your name, e-mail address, which show you’re to win tickets to (Editors, 2/19) and a brief message explaining which Winter Olympic sport is your favorite and why. Eddie Bruiser, who does not care for figure skating, will notify the winner tomorrow. Good luck.
Three Big Sounds at Mercury Lounge
Friday, November 20th, 2009The Dig/Locksley/SAADI - Mercury Lounge - November 19, 2009
Ever hear someone boast about how they once saw a now-great band in a small venue? Last night’s show at Mercury Lounge was one of those shows on three different levels. One of the opening bands, SAADI, which had only played a handful of shows together, stunned the early crowd with a tightly executed mix of poppy vocals and ambient guitar. A great rhythm section in Marcus Farrar on drums and AJ Lambert on bass backed lead singer Boshra AlSaadi’s quirky stage presence. SAADI’s exceptionally well-written music showed promise that will certainly pay off for them as an up-and-coming band.
Locksley, heavily featured on MTV, played second. With a sound that straddled the border of the Strokes and the Beatles, they traded lead vocals and executed perfect harmonies. (They even already have an established throng of female fans swooning in the crowd). That they were in the middle of a billing at Mercury Lounge was a bit of a surprise, but they played like it was Shea Stadium, somehow fitting 13 songs into a 40-minute set.
The Dig, a New York City group that is far less known than Locksley but carries just as much promise, however, stole the show. The band was the most powerful of the night, using heavy bass from Emile Mosseri in every song. David Baldwin’s guitar contributed to the strange mix of straight rock sound and fuzzy shoegaze, the latter complemented by Erick Eiser’s wickedly sweet keyboards. Baldwin and Mosseri traded lead vocals from song to song, but Mosseri’s voice was the standout, uniquely sharp and incredibly magnetic (at it’s best on “Penitentiary,” a song so catchy it begs to be licensed and heard everywhere). The Dig wrapped their set with “She’s Going to Kill That Boy,” a brash rocker akin to Cold War Kids, leaving the crowd listening to a band that sounded like they’d already made it big. —Sean O’Kane
Photos courtesy of Sean O’Kane | seanokanephoto.com
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