I missed the Fanfarlo show at Mr. Small's on Sunday night but was lucky enough to sneak into a last-minute admission to their live session at WYEP's studio on Monday afternoon. Lisa and I showed up right at 1:00 and were ushered into the studio as the live session was just about to kick off. Cindy Howes was up near the stage and the forty or so seats were mostly taken so we stood near the back. I smiled at the couple with their two small children also standing in the back and at the sweet old man who ducked underneath the reach of my phone while walking by me even though I was just checking my email and not taking a photograph at the time.
Fanfarlo sounded absolutely amazing. Their songs, on record, have been hit-or-miss with me, feeling like a little too over-produced twee, hyper-arranged, orchestral pop tunes to really hit me hard … but I rescind those complaints formally now. I'm a Fanfarlo fan. Part of that transformation was the band's demeanor during the interview. They were humorous, personable, off-beat, and decidely exactly the opposite of the kind of high-minded, erudite, scholarly popsters I had in mind based on their songs. Maybe I was way too pre-judgmental about their music and their image, but hey, I take it all back. Their songs now sound perfectly catchy and engaging to me, and knowing there are affable and genuinely interesting individuals behind it all … that just adds to the appeal.
The standout track of the half-hour live session was the last number, "Shiny Things". Cindy introduced the song by talking to the band about the music video, which quite literally (and quasi-violently and decidedly-creepily) portrays the song's discussion of greed and ambition and retribution and … well, now I'm kinda spoiling the imagery and surprises therein. Watch for yourself and prepare to be fucking amazed and enthralled. I can't look away from this video, even on my third straight viewing now, never mind the fact that this song is amazing. As Cindy mentioned in the interview, too, this video is incredibly sad while being absolutely awesome.
Fanfarlo / "Shiny Things" / Rooms Filled With Light / dir. Tim Nackashi
Here's a photo from the studio session. I really like their studio and I'll make it a point to go back there more often. Would you believe that this was my first time visiting WYEP's interior? Seriously! I've been in that neighborhood dozens of times for Club Café shows or hanging out at the Beehive, but I'd never actually been inside WYEP's building. It was super nice.
Not being a hardcore Lemonheads fan and seemingly not having been exactly the right age in the early 90s, I have some mixed feelings about this show. Did I have a good time there? Yeah, pretty much; for hanging out by myself at the Stage AE club stage on a Monday night in January, it was swell. Was I wowed by the music or the performance? Not really, but I didn't quite expect it to be, so it's fine. If I'd had some expectations or heavy knowledge of Evan Dando and his personality and the band's songs, I might have had some more nuanced thoughts about the show, but overall, I'm feeling like the big proclamation is: "It was a concert. It was ok."
I caught a bus downtown then walked across the river in a slight drizzle, and missed the first opening act, who was apparently just the Lemonheads' bassist. The second opener, Meredith Sheldon, was actually really good, and I'm glad I made it there just before her set started. Her look was kind of that "focused slacker" style—kinda baggy gray t-shirt, hair a little stringy and framing her face, tight jeans, huge heels, eyes closed or staring at the floor the whole time—and it suited her songs well. Her voice was gorgeous, her guitar playing was solid and expressive, and alternately with/without a backing band of bass and drums, she could move around from slow and somber songs to more upbeat rockers. Her last song was a stellar cover of a Big Star song. I was impressed and was glad I was up close to hear them well, because it didn't seem like anyone except for the first few rows of standing people were even paying attention. It's a shame about Meredith.
There was a long wait between sets, despite no instrument setup of any kind. Evan Dando came out around 9:50 and played a few songs solo. Midway through the first one, he stopped to ask to lower the guitar in his monitor. The crowd was "woo"-ing passionately, like fanboys, and Evan kept his head down. Feeling shy? Not noticing? Who knows? After three or four acoustic numbers, he plugged in and the bassist and drummer came out to play. There was this older married couple standing next to me and they were just shredding guitars in the air and totally loving it. That was kinda cool. Everyone in the front row was singing along. That is not as cool. They started in on playing It's A Shame About Ray in order, and the crowd really loved that. I caught Evan staring up at the ceiling during the title track, like he has to gaze upward to hit the highest notes ("it's a SHAME about Ray…"), and then when he looked back down he had a little grin on his face, like it's his little secret trick no one knows about or sees. My phone notes remind me that his "blonde hair hangs straight, eyes downcast, looks coyly happy".
Every once in a while, he slipped up some lyrics or missed a vocal cue, and I caught him checking for the bassist to cue him in sometimes. I found that kind of endearing, actually, like it's amateurish but he knows it and doesn't care about doing what he has to do to keep the set moving. He never looked angry or disappoined in himself, and even chuckled a little bit. Finally, he started some banter like 40 minutes into their set. It was at this point that I was actually enjoying myself, taking in these unfamiliar tunes and enjoying the show, in the sense of the performance. However, reading this review in the Post-Gazette makes me think that being a nonfan colored my experience differently. Scott Mervis laments about Dando's initial performance and relates it to his troubled history with drugs (meanwhile completely mislabeling the opener; The Shining Twins did not play this show, and he didn't realize that even though he was apparently there for her set?). He noted this turning point where Dando started talking with the crowd, even though it was kinda mumbly. I wouldn't call it a "transformation" in his performance, but it was a noticeable moment.
The band left the stage and Dando played solo for a little while, starting and stopping a song he forgot he had already played, asking the audience outright for suggestions of "rare songs" of theirs to play (like he couldn't remember them or something), talking awkwardly about pills, and eventually stopping and walking off to genuine but half-hearted applause. The audience pretty much assumed an encore, it felt like, and they did get one. The band came back out to play and I just took off. I had been feeling bored for a while. It was just too long of a night for a band I don't know. At least in the beginning I was enjoying their songs for the performance aspect, the interesting character study of Mr. Dando—in that sense, I enjoyed the show—but eventually, it was just all too much of the same sounds—in that sense, it was a lackluster concert. Perhaps, if I was a true fan, like Mr. Mervis, my feelings would have been a mirror image of that, but as it was, I was happy to be walking out at 11:15 and strolling along the river by PNC Park, soaking in the brisk night air, leaving the amps behind and letting my ears enjoy the sounds of flowing water and distant cars, and heading in the direction of home.
I saw Old Canes at the Brillobox almost one year ago to the day (October 23, 2009). Somehow, that show was way more crowded than this one, and Leigh and I stayed back by the bar for the whole show and, consequently, I don't think I enjoyed them as much as I could have. I liked the album of theirs I had heard beforehand and enjoyed listening to it on my iPod while walking to/from campus. This time, though, the crowd was a bit sparser and we stayed in the second row the whole time and I even liked it more than what I've heard on their albums. So, an interesting switcheroo there. Glad I got to see them again and up close, at that.
I was in a rush to get to the show from campus after an IM soccer game, and apparently it was one of those doors 9:00 / show 9:30 shows that the Brillo randomly has that I wasn't unaware of, so I completely missed the opening band joy toujours and the toys du jour. That name alone had me intrigued and it's a shame I missed them entirely. They did have a couple of CDs on the merch table but no one seemed to be monitoring it for the whole show, so I figured they must have just played and then left. I grabbed a CD on the way out and will listen to it soon. If you're out there joy ... , I may owe you one.
Next up was Pete Bush & the Hoi Polloi. He said it was their first time at the Brillobox, and their MySpace page lists them as from both Pittsburgh and Seattle, so I don't actually know whether to call it a "local opener" or not. They were a bass/guitar/drums trio, but the guitar was a plugged-in acoustic and the bass was a standup double bass and the drums were a standard kit but played in a kinda jazzy/ska way with brushes some of the time. Overall, it was a certainly catchy style and I liked watching how enthusiastic they all were, sincerely bobbing their heads and really getting into it, especially the drummer who seemed to be practically tickling the drumskins with his sticks to get them to make just the right sound in just the right emotional way. The bass was solid too, really heavy sound for an orchestral stringed instrument; I could feel the wall shaking when I leaned on it. The singer had long curly hair that hung in his face a lot of the time and his voice was really well-honed; he sang loud and proud and had great pitch (the bassist sometimes provided some backup vocals, too). He had some funny banter: at the beginning he said they only had "half an hour to blow minds, so no more jibber jabber", and towards the end he asked the sound guy, "How we doin' on time, sound guy?" and he just responded with, " ........ uh, ok". It seemed like a sizable portion of the crowd knew the band and their songs, and some guys were singing along and fist pumping at the right moments. I had a mental moment towards the end of their set where I thought the song sounded familiar but then I just realized it reminded me of the earlier part of the song, and it had somehow already injected itself into my brain during the time when they were playing it, so kudos to them for making their songs that upbeat and catchy. One random observation that I'm not even sure about anymore: I think the singer's voice reminded me a little bit of the singer from Sublime, although that may have been just one particular song. All in all, it was fun to see. Not sure I'll pursue listening to it now, but I definitely enjoyed their set and have no complaints.
Old Canes took the stage a bit after 11:00 and played a solid, long set of songs from their two albums. Like I said, I especially liked being up close and able to see them playing their assortment of instruments. I don't even remember seeing this many people onstage at the last show. There were 5 guys: vocals/guitar, drums, cello/trumpet/harmonica/extra drums, mandolin/xylophone/melodica/tambourine/vocals, and trumpet/keyboard/synth/keyboard/harpsichord/vocals. Yeah, it was awesome to watch all of that instrumentation going on in front of me, and it has since made me go back and relisten to some songs and catch some extra little insturmental flourishes that I hadn't noticed before. The audience was really loving it, with a few people singing along or cheering at the beginning of a song when they recognized it and a group of people right in front of me doing that jump-up-and-down-with-their-arms-around-each-others'-shoulders dance that people love to do at concerts. The band members themselves seemed almost shyly grateful of the appreciation of their music and made sure to thank us at least a few times. With one song left to go, the singer decided it was a perfect time to go off and do a shot at the bar, so the drummer and mandolinist each told a joke to keep us entertained: (1) What's a polar bear's favorite meal? ....... A brrr-grrr! (with hand motions) (2) What did one snowman say to the other? ...... Does it smell like carrots to you? (some audience member actually shouted out the answer to that one and ruined it haha) After that, they decided to play two more songs instead of one, and we all cheered. Overall, it was really fun; just right in terms of crowd size and enthusiasm, the songs they played and the sound system, etc. Everything was great. Definitely try and catch these guys if they pass through your town. I'm looking forward to when the come back again next October 20-something-th :-)
Also, the combined assortment of facial hair in this band was pretty sweet. Singer Chris Crisci has a full beard with big swaths of gray on the sideburns (it looks better than it sounds, really), drummer John Momberg was rocking the shaved head and full, dense beard (see picture above), and one of the other multi-instrumentalists whose name I'm not sure of had a stylish moustache (see other picture above). Good work, gentlemen.
This is a video I took of them playing "Last Collapse" in the middle of their set. Notice they were already thanking everyone for coming out on a Wednesday night ("Yeah, Wednesday!")
and here's a video someone took of them playing "Sweet" at last year's show. The video quality is much better, too (the video feature on my camera does not handle dim lighting very well at all).
Pocahaunted, Quilt, Wallcreeper Tuesday June 8, 2010 at T.T. The Bear's Place (Boston, MA) with Leigh
I had never been to T.T. The Bear's Place. In fact, despite telling most people I meet that I grew up “near Boston”, I had never been to a concert at a Boston rock club/bar. To be fair, I only tell people “near Boston” because most people from outside of New England don't know where Worcester is (let alone how to pronounce it) and I did go to an O.A.R. Concert in the city back in college. Regardless, I was glad to have an opportunity to see another city's indie rock scene, even if it was just a tiny slice and only for one show. I was also glad to see Pocahaunted in the paint-smeared-and-extravagantly-dressed flesh. I had purchased their LP Make It Real after hearing about them via up-and-coming band Best Coast (whose lead singer/guitarist used to be in Pocahaunted) and then checking out some tracks on LaLa.com (R.I.P.). It's become one of those albums that I put on when I just feel like sitting in my recliner and spacing out for a little while, which is good to do from time to time. There's something equally cliché and effective about lighting some soothing incense and listening to droning guitars and drums and chanting, or as one of their record labels, Not Not Fun, puts it: “a 40-minute-ish collage of basement body music, garage dub damage, outsider funkadelic sprawl, voodoo rhythm workouts, duo femme soul vocal dynamics, dripping gold sweat, and dream fulfillment.” I say one of their record labels, because their discography is massive, with a swath of CDs, cassettes, and LPs to their name under a variety of member lineups. If you're new to them, start with Make It Real and, if you like it, work backwards.
We arrived at TT The Bear's in Central Square around 9:30 after noshing down the street at Cambridge's River Gods restaurant, a great vegetarian/vegan friendly spot with a good beer selection, to boot. The first opener, Wallcreeper was wrapping up their set and we caught the end of one song and then one more. Between sets, I played the game “pick 3 bands that the opener sounds like/reminds me of so I can remember them later” (which I usually play in my head) with Leigh and she said Creed right away, and that pretty much killed the game. They didn't really sound too much like them, but the one singer's voice remind us of Creed's singer and I couldn't get that out of my head. Mostly, they had a gloomy, bass-heavy guitar rock sound with duo male vocalists. Nothing fancy or awe-inspiring but perfect local, show-opening fare.
The next act was Quilt, a local three-piece with a male guitarist, a female drummer, and a female who played a few instruments (guitar, banjo, and possibly keyboards but I can't remember). The guy kept his back to the audience for most of the set and did some slow head- and body-bobbing moves while he played. The drummer, with what seemed like a stripped-down drumkit, played with lots of bass drum and not much fancy fill but that was great and fit in nicely with the simply spacious and ethereal sound of the group at large. She also sang into a headset-style microphone, something I have never seen at a show; most singing drummers just stand their mics to the side and swing a long arm right in front of their face, but I guess this method frees up some elbow space or something. The third member played guitar most of the time and sang along with the drummer, and for the last two songs whipped out a banjo to add some extra twang to their melodies. Overall, it was a great style and I really enjoyed their songs: laidback psychedelic melodies with some twangy acoustic edges; soothing, atmospheric voices; and almost ritualistically rhythmic drum thumps. It's a mesmerizing whirl of basic, lo-fi sound and techniques that somehow sounds way ahead of its time, almost timeless. I bought a 7” from them after the show and am itching to listen to it (my vinyl player is back in Pittsburgh...). They were also selling homemade t-shirts, with quilted patterns sewn on to solid-colored tees. Check out their MySpace page and listen to the songs (I particularly like “Pick 'n Save”). That page also includes a funny list of what the acronym QUILT could possibly stand for; my favorite: Qdoba Understands I Love Tacos.
Pocahaunted was a perfect follower for Quilt: from the quiet, unassuming and simplistically beautiful to the loud, ornate and resplendently gorgeous. Their live show is much more than just music: between sets they spent many minutes draping all manner of cloth and shimmery material from the ceiling and overhead pipes (and electrical cords, I couldn't help noticing—eek!), sometimes by tieing a teddy bear to one end of a sheet and tossing him over a pipe to the other side. The band members themselves (at least the three females, anyway) were wearing shiny sequined shirts, colorful headbands, and smeared facepaint. Throughout the performance, the main female singer was bouncing around the left side of the stage, clapping and shouting and chanting into her microphone, and then telling Boston-related anecdotes to a small section of the audience between songs. Behind her was the male guitarist, who really played some great melodies and guitar lines that form the backbone of their songs, but I couldn't quite see him from our vantage point, and it seemed like he wanted to stay out of the spotlight anyway. The female keyboardist was on the right side, filling the melodic spectrum with vocals and keyboard riffs and sometimes abandoning her post to dance towards the middle of the stage and sing and clap. The female bassist was front and center the whole time, slamming some impressive bass riffs and genuinely making love to her microphone stand, with both body and voice. The male drummer was at the back of the stage keeping the whole operation moving forward, playing with great rhythm and cramming it with plenty of cymbals and other drum effects. The whole effect is quite literally entrancing. Some audience members were hop/dancing around in front of the stage, but I found myself just staring at the band and watching them create this all-encompassing sheet of sound, slipping into their sonic sea.
They ended their set somewhat abruptly, with a lot of guitar reverb, and the by-now-shirtless drummer walked offstage last. About half of the crowd dispersed, but the rest kept some heartfelt applause going for at least a whole minute. I saw the band members in the sidestage room glancing out and looking at each other and then deciding to walk back out for another song. The place had been pretty much empty when we got there at 9:30, and people filtered in one or two at a time the whole night until it was just about full by the end of the show proper, but now only half of that crowd was still there and they decided to go ahead with the encore anyway. Kudos to you, Pocahaunted! I whipped out my phone to take some video, thinking that I only had a little bit of battery left so I might as well put it to use; I ended up getting the whole 8 minute long finale song on video, which you can check out below! It's tough to see anything in the dark room, and the sound quality is pretty shitty, but you can hopefully get a good sense of the veritable wall-of-sound effect they create.
Quilt: Short review, a photo, and two mp3s Short bio from the Boston Phoenix Another blurb from the Phoenix, with an mp3 Article from the Boston Globe about an underground show featuring the band
Pocahaunted: MySpace page with 2 live tracks and 2 album versions of songs from Make It Real Live performance @ Synchronicity Place, Los Angeles (watch this one for sure, you can actually see all 5 band members at once with no obstructions; well, you can see their silhouettes) Live song @ Les Voûtes in Paris on June 26th, 2009 (lots of dancing in this one!) "Ashes is White" music video Interview with former members Amanda Brown and Bethany Cosentino
Random fact of the day: the current Pocahaunted bassist is named Diva Dompe and her father is Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins!
