Concert Review: Allison Weiss + Mitten + Donora @ Thunderbird Café / 01.14.2012

Catching up on weeks-old shows. Mitten put out a catchy and lovely EP last year called See You Bye. I really liked it and was kinda surprised by how much I did, and wrote that in this review here for DUL. I've managed to see Allison Weiss four or five times here in town over the last couple of years, and I saw that they were touring together this winter and stopping here at the Thunderbird, hooray! And they're playing with Donora, even better!

I emailed the ladies of Mitten to set up an interview a couple of days before the show, and had plans to meet up with them and AW for some pizza before the gig, but unfortunately they got delayed on the road. We ended up just meeting at the venue after soundcheck and right before they played. (That's their soundcheck in the photo on the left, with AW internetting and Hugh snapping photos.) I had a quick conversation with Joanna and Maia about their current tour and their plans for future recording. What struck me was how much god damn fun they were having. In the most pleasant way possible, I could hardly get a word in! They cracked jokes left and right, smiled constantly, jabbed at each other and told tour anecdotes, and were genuinely outgoing and bubbly the whole time. The best kind of interview, really, but darn hard to transcribe (especially with the background noise by the pool table there) so I'm working on that and it'll hopefully be done next week.

My friends and I sat at the table at the front of the balcony, which is an optimal viewpoint at the Thunderbird, I gotta say, but it kinda sucks for sound if there are lots of people at the bar up there. If people are respectful and pay attention, it is outstanding for sound, right up in the middle of the sonic spaces, but if everyone is really chatty, like this night … well, it can be really frustrating. I had trouble hearing banter, and some of the quieter moments of Mitten's music—which are some of the best parts of their music, really!—got a little blurred and almost drowned out. Fuckin' ay. Overall, they played great and seemed to have a good time, regardless, and there were a couple of folks up front dancing and singing along, so I'm glad for that. It's just too bad that our location wasn't the best and there was a big group of us so moving up to the front of the stage wasn't gonna work.

This trend kinda continued into Allison Weiss' set. She blasted through a bunch of new songs, and the usual old faves—"I Was An Island", "Fingers Crossed", "You + Me + Alcohol"—and her downtempo cover of Robyn's "Call Your Girlfriend", which is gorgeous. Having just seen her play in December at Point Park, there wasn't much new to talk about. She played well, was her usually friendly self on stage, and the crowd down at the stage level was really into it. Mitten came back onstage to play a song or two at the end, too; that was fun.

Donora came in and rocked the house, as usually. It became clear as the night went on that most people were there to see Donora and were kinda waiting through the first two sets to see them. That irked me a little. As much as I love local bands and am glad to see when they become increasingly popular, I don't like seeing this dynamic at shows where it's like you can completely forget about the fact that people are standing on stage playing songs for your entertainment and you're just talking to your friends like they don't exist. It's fine to not like bands and not want to pay attention, but just do it somewhere else. Go downstairs to the bar. Go outside. Play a game of tic tac toe. Whatever it is. It's just really annoying to everyone else trying to watch and listen when they have to fight through your idle chit-chat.

The Song Remains the Same-ish: MGMT + Passion Pit = "Sleepykids"!

[This is a "series" that lets me point out when two songs sound really similar. Its frequency obviously depends on me finding these similarities, so who knows when it will happen again. See the previous entry here.]

Artist:	MGMT	Passion Pit
Song:	"Kids"	"Sleepyhead"
Album:	Oracular Spectacular	Manners
Label:	Columbia	Frenchkiss
Released:	October 2, 200	May 19, 2009

I'll admit, I didn't spot this connection/similarity on my own; rather, a friend posted this video (embedded below) on her Facebook wall and I listened to it and thought it was a pretty good observation. I don't think the connection is totally compelling, but it's similar enough that I could see people confusing the two songs if they've only heard them randomly on the radio once or twice while they're in American Apparel or something like that. Anywho, somebody put together a neat mashup called "Sleepykids". The intro is purely MGMT, but then the opening lyrics of "Sleepyhead" come in right over that, and then the synth riff is sped up to match the pace of "Kids", and then they just stay mixed together like that, racing forward at the same breakneck pace. It's pretty interesting, I gotta say. If you know these songs, try to pretend like you've never heard them before and treat this as a standalone single from the latest indie electro-pop buzz band from, I dunno . . . Brooklyn or Philly or some place like that. How does it sound? Does it work? What if Altered Zones named it top track of 2010 or some shit? Would you like it more? If you've never heard either of these songs, well, where the fuck have you been?



[Side note: I forgot how attractive Joanna Newsom looks in the video for "Kids".]

[Further side note: Here are some interesting cover versions of "Kids", because it is apparently a fucking popular song to cover - Allison Weiss - The Kooks - The Ooks Of Hazzard (seven ukeleles!) - Jason Yang (solo electric violin!) - Some teenage girl playing left-handed acoustic guitar and singing in German! - Some rando high school a capella group - Esther & Fatou (two girls playing acoustic guitar outside in a garden)]

Jams of the day: "Don't Let Go" (and a cover song or two)

Artist: Lelia Broussard
Song: "Don't Let Go"
Album: Waiting on the 9
Released: November 18, 2008
Label: Lilyah Music / TuneCore

I saw Allison Weiss, Bess Rogers, and Lelia Broussard @ Garfield Artworks a few nights ago and it was fantastically fun. All three of them have such beautiful voices and are great songwriters. Plus, their live show is so entertaining; they're truly pleased to be onstage playing their songs for an interested audience, and they're so bubbly and personable between their beautiful, emotional songs that you can't help but laugh along with them at their antics. And come on, they knighted someone with a plastic sword and crown!

I was particularly impressed by Lelia's amazingly powerful voice. She completely filled the huge, boxy room inside Garfield Artworks when she belted out some lines, but she could bring it back down to a whisper and make you lean forward in your chair, too. It was mesmerizing. Check out the video below to see what I mean:



Here's the recorded version of that song. I like the acoustic version better; it really lets the voice lead, as it should. Lelia also started to play a cover of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" before she was cut off by Manny enforcing the "strict original music performances only" policy at Garfield Artworks, since he opts not to pay the yearly ASCAP fee. Whatever. However, Bess managed to slip in a country/bluegrass-style cover of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me" earlier in the evening. That was pretty entertaining.

Lelia Broussard:
MySpace
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Waiting on the 9 on eMusic, Amazon, iTunes

Her new album, Masquerade, will be released on November 2. Pre-order here.

Concert review: Jenny Owen Youngs, Bess Rogers, Allison Weiss

Jenny Owen Youngs, Bess Rogers, Allison Weiss (Spring Break Forever tour)
Friday March 12, 2010 at Garfield Artworks
with Leigh, Erin, Spencer, Lisa, Amy

This show was all kinds of fun. Jenny, Bess and Allison are three singing/songwritings ladies who, apparently, like to have fun on stage and play music, and that's that. There was hilarious stage banter, a huge assortment of songs featuring, I believe, all 6 possible combinations of the 3 of them, and a show-ending song about Spring Break. What's not to love?

Allison Weiss played first as the others set up some instruments behind her. The whole show started late since they got stuck in traffic or construction or something on the way. The six of us had walked to the venue and got there a bit after 7:30, but there were only 3 people inside and the sound guy said that they were running 30 minutes late, so we walked down two blocks to see what was around and realized there was nothing to see. We ended up setting down at the bar of the “Envy nightclub” right next door to the venue, but it did not seem like a nightclub at all. There was no dancing. What they did have was really cheap and strong mixed drinks, a couple people eating food in a booth, and two TVs blaring “Supernanny” and “Rush Hour 3”. Very strange, but in an endearingly quirky way. Leigh ordered a gin & tonic, and one of the ladies working there had to walk to the convenience store across the street to get tonic. They didn't have limes, but how often do you get that kind of TLC in your G&T? We all stayed for a drink and then bid Envy adieu. I may have to stop back there the next time I go to a show at the Artworks, just to see if it still exists and remains just as strange.

Anyway, Allison played a bunch of songs and entertained us with her witty and charming banter. She was genuinely excited to be performing and must have shouted “Spring Break!” at least three times, encouraging those of us who were “of age” and not “all ages” to get drunk and dance. None of that happened, unfortunately. Gradually, Bess and Jenny joined in on some songs, adding keyboard and guitar and bass to the songs. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a performance with so little percussion; the only drum-like instrument they used was a tambourine, played by foot-stomping. For one song, Jenny played glockenspiel while seated in the audience. It was cool to turn around in my chair and watch her up close, knocking gently on the metal keys while the girl sitting next to her held out her iPhone for lighting. Check out the links below to see some videos of Allison performing and to get a better idea of just how enjoyable she is to watch; it's infectious. She also has a live album available for free download from her website.

Bess Rogers played some of her songs next, and the other two joined in occasionally. Her songs were a little more mellow than Allison's, and she also played the ukulele. I guess I don't have much to say about her set. It was fun and interesting, but I think I liked the others' songs more.

Jenny Owen Youngs played some of her material last. Her voice is so interesting, particularly the way it looks like she almost has to force some lines into the microphone whereas some others fly out of her mouth fast and loudly. I've listened to the two albums of hers that I have sporadically and always enjoy them, but it's not something I find myself playing over and over in succession like some other albums I like. This set was a good assortment of upbeat songs and more slow, introspective numbers, such as her (likely) most well-known single, “Fuck Was I”. The show ended with all 3 of them onstage playing a rousing singalong “Spring Break” song with some pretty silly lyrics and a vocalized skatted “guitar solo” by Allison and concluding with a kazoo outro, the kazoo being provided by the sound guy during the song. All in all, it really was a fantastically fun show.

Allison Weiss – live at Billboard Magazine
Allison Weiss – Kids (MGMT cover)
Allison Weiss – live at Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA (the whole concert is on youtube, this is the first video)

Bess Rogers – I Don't Worry
Bess Rogers – What We Want live

Jenny Owen Youngs and Bess Rogers – Voice on Tape
Jenny Owen Youngs – Transmitter Failure live