Tag Archives: Woods

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Woodsist Records Showcase – Music Hall of Williamsburg – June 25, 2010

June 28th, 2010

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There were no opening bands on Friday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg, just an amazing self-contained festival on one stage. Woodsist Records packed the bill, and no one was going to miss any of these acts. The balcony tables were secured long before Moon Duo took the stage to deliver their screaming fuzz-guitar and organ jams. It was something of a milestone, bringing these acts together. From the West Coast, San Francisco-based Moon Duo, Sic Alps and the Fresh and Onlys bonded with Brooklyn’s own Woods’ and Real Estate’s sunny vibes. Hearing them all together like this, there’s no doubt they’re all rooted in those ’60s mind-altering sounds, relying heavily on effects and abstract melody.

Sic Alps, which just recently opened for Pavement and Sonic Youth, brought heavy guitar experimentation to the table, drawing out their hazy blues into laid-back explorations in scuzzy feedback. Whatever song structure they originally had was abandoned, and they repeatedly broke them down with ear-splitting volume. Up next, the Fresh and Onlys took a traditional garage-pop approach to the swirl of effects, favoring a catchy melody over an extended jam. Tim Cohen, a friendly flannel frontman, cracked jokes and led the four-piece in tracks off their self-titled release, which leans toward a dense, smooth harmony-laden good time.

Woods played with their trademark blend of high falsetto and the mysterious technical wizardry of G. Lucas Crane. They were taking obvious pleasure in teasing out the tracks into oblivion and reeling them back again long into the night. Finally, Real Estate, with themes of nostalgia for the Jersey Shore, was completely at home onstage before a packed audience. Matt Mondanile and Martin Courtney on guitar, playing off each other’s surf-inspired melodies, was the key to Real Estate’s lighthearted summer jams, with rivers and beaches making their way into the lyrics if you weren’t already staring into the sun. The band left the satisfied crowd to walk out into the humid night, with a comfortable dream-pop soundtrack for those slow 8 mm films of the boardwalk, the jerky home movies of friends running into the surf under the blinking lights of a run-down casino. —Jason Dean

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Northside Festival Starts Today

June 24th, 2010

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Get ready for a flurry of indie rock in Brooklyn this weekend because The L Magazine’s second annual Northside Festival, today through Sunday, brings more than 100 bands to Greenpoint and Williamsburg. Of course you know The Bowery Presents is gonna get in on that, beginning tonight at Music Hall of Williamsburg with Thao and Mira with the Most of All and These United States. Tomorrow brings the Woodsist Records Showcase featuring Real Estate and Woods to Music Hall of Williamsburg while Brooklyn Bowl hosts the Fiery Furnaces (below, playing “Keep Me in the Dark” for Seattle’s KEXP), who will also be at Mercury Lounge the next night. On Saturday, Music Hall plays host to a Brooklyn Vegan showcase, with Memory Tapes, Twin Sister, Dom and ZAZA on hand. And, finally, close out this festival in style on Sunday when Islands hits Music Hall of Williamsburg.

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A Band Makes It Rain

March 15th, 2010

Woods – Music Hall of Williamsburg – March 12, 2010

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How often do you stop to think about bands like Woods and Real Estate being from our backyard, here in Brooklyn? They’re waking up late, buying coffee at the corner deli, doing their laundry and playing the Music Hall of Williamsburg at night. It goes far beyond the slightly-cheaper-than-Manhattan rents: The sheer amount of talent in one place attracts a huge number of musicians who struggle to be half as successful as Woods. And this press-shy band doesn’t just play great music. No, lead singer Jeremy Earl is expanding discographies with his own Woodsist label, home to Blank Dogs, Kurt Vile and Wavves.

With that same community-cooperative feel, Woods kicked off the first show of their “No Rain” Tour alongside Real Estate. (And when you tempt fate with a name like that, it should be no surprise that the precipitation came with such force.) Earl, singing in the highest registers of Neil Young or Jimmy Scott, strummed sensitive indie country on a well-worn acoustic. G. Lucas Crane—singing into an old pair of reverse-polarity headphones—twisted knobs on the tape players laid out in front of him and added an old tin-can telephone layer of harmony to Earl’s already impossibly high falsetto.

The end result was an eerie, distant Siren’s cry that didn’t sound like it could come from just the guys onstage. Their songs open up, and given this room to roam, Woods let the freedom of their live performance take over. The familiar structures were recognizable, like in “Rain On,” but as a bottle of Maker’s Mark was passed around, the songs expanded into psychedelic proportions. And then Real Estate returned to join Woods for an all-out jam party on a staple of ’90s nostalgia, Blind Melon’s “No Rain,” which is when I realized the tour had nothing at all to do with the weather. —Jason Dean