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.

Concert Review: The Lemonheads + Meredith Sheldon @ Stage AE / 01.20.2012

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.

The Lemonheads on the web: Website / Facebook / Twitter

Meredith Sheldon on the web: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Bandcamp

Concert Review: Jeffrey Foucault + Big Snow Big Thaw @ Club Cafe / 01.13.2012

Just catching up on some shows I've seen this year. I used to do these things for every concert I went to, and it served as a nice list of shows/bands I saw, at the very least, in addition to a record of my thoughts about them. I'm gonna try to keep up with that this year without falling behind too much (and some better reviews appear on Draw Us Lines when I have more thoughts to share and care more about my writing style).

I try to catch Big Snow Big Thaw at every chance, not just because they're my friends, but because they're great. I remembering being initially surprised at how much I dug these kinds of folksy/bluegrassy sounds, but then I realized that's just me being picky and closed-minded about musical tastes. Call it what you want—newgrass, folk rock, midwest rock 'n roll, somethin' else made up—it doesn't matter. It rocks. And every time they play, they've got new songs to share. They've been hard at work at J Bird Studios and their first album should be out real soon. (In the meantime, do yourself a favor and check out their Winter/Spring EP combo on Bandcamp.) That very same J, he of J Bird, played bass on a bunch of their songs, too, since he has been adding some bass parts during the recording. It rounded out the sound a little bit, and was a nice addition. Here's hoping they explore that route in the future. I caught their set at the Carnegie Library's Sunday afternoon acoustic series (photo above) a few days before this show, too, and that was great to see lots of strangers walking through and sit down and enjoy their tunes.

Jeffrey Foucault was an oustanding performer! Jim and David kinda warned me and the rest of the audience, saying that his soundcheck performance was amazing (he just walked up, no prep, and that voice belted out like he was born singing) and he strikes quite a presence with that magnificently thick beard. He was swigging something from a steel cup, and had been on the road all day, this being the first stop on his tour a long way from his previous night's activity of watching The Muppets with his daughter (why I remember that anecdote, I couldn't tell ya). I hadn't heard any of his songs before and yet I found myself mesmerized. The crowd skewed a little older, I think, and there were some seriously chatty drunkies in the back by the bar, but other than that, everyone was pretty much rapt as JF strummed and sang in front of those Club Café starlights. He did a great Neil Young cover (forget which song) but this number really stood out and was stuck in my head:



Apparently, you can join this Facebook group if you think Jeffrey Foucault isn't famous enough.

Jeffrey Foucault on the web: Website

Big Snow Big Thaw on the web: Facebook / Twitter / Bandcamp

Concert Review / MOIP + 123 @ Brillobox

It had been a long while since I'd seen a proper Meeting of Important People rawk band show. It felt like a year or more, but it was really only like 6 months. Still, that's WAY too long to go without a rip-roarin' set of garage pop tunes, guitar flailing, fast-paced drums, and good ol' fashioned fun times.

I grabbed dinner downstairs at the Brillobox before the show. You have to try the seitan gyro. I think it's pretty new on the menu (I hadn't seen it before) and it was absolutely delicious. Perfectly spiced, nice texture, generously saucy. Yummo. I went upstairs a short while after The Whiskey Holler started their set. I'd only caught these dudes once before, at the Thunderbird back in September, and I was really surprised by how great they were that first time. I wasn't expecting them to be bad, not at all, but it was one of those really pleasant surprises where you don't know the band, have no expectations, and then they rock your socks off and you find yourself grinning halfway through because you know you've stumbled on greatness. Yeah, it was like that. This time around, the crowd was kinda chatty and the band was playing as an acoustic duo (or trio, perhaps?) so it didn't come across nearly as well as I remembered/had hoped. I still enjoyed their twangy rock tunes, but I wish everyone else was paying better attention. I suppose I should have gone up and stood closer but I didn't feel like navigating the already dense crowd. They play around town a lot, so I'll be sure to catch 'em again soon, and I recommend you do the same. In the meantime, dig this live recording from a Howlers set. It is fantastic. Also, check out this story they posted on their blog last month. Love the story-telling style, fellas.



Meeting of Important People got up next and did what they do best: everything. Josh announced that they'd essentially taken the entire fall season off from concert-playing and put together an entire new full-length album of material that they're very eager to share. Huzzah! They've slipped a couple of new songs into their repertoire over the last year or so, and I've wondered how those were coming along and whether they had any album plans. Now we know. Check out the Kickstarter campaign that they launched last week for more info about it; they want to do all the recording themselves, sans labels and PR and all that monkey business. More power to ya, boys. And readers, throw 'em a few bucks. You won't regret it when you hear what comes out of it all. As I was watching them play, I realized that I've written so many review of their shows, it's pointless to reiterate the fun and tunefulness they exude, so I went and did something I remember doing way back when I was just a fanboy, listening to their record on my iPod, seeing them for the first or second time: I copied down their setlist on my phone while they played. Yup. This is direct copy/paste from the document so you can see my silly notes, unedited.

britney lane
hanky church
(verba nets vs. ver baah nets)
leaving here
its alright to let the old folks go (with bullshit indie rock ending)
one o clock
big muscles
we gotta get outta this place
I know every street
innocents abound (guest shaker)
dead man
good for your bones, punk rawk
training song
leap the dips
boys
??? New song, for when you're higher than hell
nothings goin on
school (nirvana)


1,2,3 came up last and played a bunch of songs from New Heaven, and one new song from an upcoming thing they're working on. The crowd was really into it, although it seemed a little thinner than it had been earlier. I learned that the bassist used to be in Juliana Theory. There's a fun fact for ya. They played my favorite tune of theirs, "Riding Coach". That one always sounds good, and I'm really impressed with how well it comes across in person, too. It almost feels like a headphones song, but they nail it live, even Nic's falsetto. Great stuff. I noticed they had their own sound guy working the board, which I don't see too often from local bands, so they must be prepping him for a tour or something? Sounded pretty good, considering the usual Brillo crowd which, by the way, was waaaayyy worse during this set than usual. Nic actually called out a group of super chatty folks right in the front. "Hey, girl in the glasses, yeah, you, hey, you" … and she still didn't notice! Somebody standing behind her had to poke her drunk ass (not literally, she was just being a drunk ass) to get her attention and get her to shut up so they could play a quiet tune. Yowza. Meanwhile, some other really drunk girl kept "dancing" and stumbling around and falling onto the stage, and Josh's ride cymbal kept falling off the stand (the top notch was broken, I think) and a pink-haried lady in the front kept graciously going up to fix it when it tumbled (which happened at least four or five times). Overall, it was a kinda up-and-down set, logistics-wise, but the music sounded good to my ears, which is all that really matters, right?

Jam of the day, and a rhetorical contemplation on music journalism: Yuck / "The Wall"

I present this jam, up front, sans debate or even really commentary, save for the title of the Daytrotter session wherein I discovered this tune: All The Old Is All The New.



So what did you think? Somehow, I had put off listening to Yuck for a while after they kinda "broke" in the blog world. (Blogosphere is not a word.) I didn't dislike the description of their sound, nor was I put off by the early and effusive press coverage. I just didn't care whether I heard their songs or not. There are only so many bands I can listen to and keep up with and ... that's that, really. About a month ago, though, I listened to their Daytrotter session ... on my phone! Because Daytrotter released an Android app. It's great, that app. Yuck were one of the "most played" sessions, so I gave them a listen. And I liked it. "The Wall", in particular, kinda stuck in my head. I listened to that session on my bike, riding around town, and it was catchy and hummable and singable and kept my mind buzzing and active and my head bobbing and my foot tapping and everything else that a good song should do. Did I think about the recycling of 90s indie rock sounds? No. Did I think about the complexity of lyrics, or lack thereof? No. Did I think about the ages of the band members, or their maturity, or musical history knowledge? No. It was a good song, and it really caught my ears for awhile, and still does. I like listening to it.

So can someone please explain for me this album review here, from The Quietus? This review says nothing about their music beyond how it's "retrogressive" and embodies "laziness". It's written by someone who admits that they "hated this kind of Lemonheads-lite, floral-dressed, clompety-booted, neurotic ninny inanity the first time round" and proceeds to dislike how it has come up in time and space again, and that admission was made in the first paragraph (including the teaser sentence along with that), so why should I lend any reasonable credence to the ensuing words? After rhetorically asking whether it even matters that this music is so "obviously" an uninspired rehashing of prior trends, the author responds with an emphatic, "yes": "It matters because there's absolutely no way this music could say anything to anyone about their lives in 2011. Try playing this album over news footage of the student riots and it will seems as appropriate as Mungo Jerry's 'In The Summertime'." Oh my god, or lack thereof. This music isn't saying something outlandishly weighty and everyone-join-handsy and meaningful for everyone at this current moment in time? Holy fuck, we shouldn't bother listening at all, because that's exactly what music should do, all the time, and anything falling short is not worth the shameful waste of atoms it represents.

The weird thing is, I'm not even a huge fan of this album, I just don't understand this review. Do people like to read complete thrashings of things that are "popular" out of some morbid fascination? I don't get that. Say something meaningful in your review, please. I spent the time reading it, and it shouldn't leave me feeling about it like the author felt about the album defamed therein. Why bother writing about it, if that's how you feel?

You should enjoy another song & video and forget about what you just read:

The best Pavement album ever?

That's a tough/easy question to answer depending on who you ask, it seems. Sadly, you might hear an answer of, "Who?", on occasion, but if you ask the right party, they'll either have an immediate answer, or they'll say that they can't really decide. At least, this is what I've noticed. The reason I'm bringing this up now is that the following exchange occurred at my place the other night during a weekly poker game. One guy was looking through my vinyl cabinet for something to play, found the Pavement section, and then this happened:


D: Without sounding too uncultured, what's the best Pavement album?

N: Slanted & Enchanted.

S: You said that rather matter-of-factly, N.

N: Well, that's because it's a matter of fact.


(Names abbreviated to unnecessarily protect the completely innocent.)

I chuckled out loud, as did some others around the table, but that was the extent of the discussion. I went back to focusing on losing at cards and forgot about the whole thing. But now that I think about it, I don't really have an immediate answer to that question, like N did. I can think of good sections of albums that I enjoy, a multitude of favorite songs and lyrics and guitar riffs and so on, but none of the albums particularly stand out as an overwhelming favorite to me. I'd like to investigate this further. I recently got the Watery, Domestic EP in the mail from an order I made with Matador Records (in addition to the Slow Century DVD) and that completely rounds out my collection of Pavement vinyl. I've acquired all of the LPs (Slanted & Enchanted; Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain; Wowee Zowee; Brighten The Corners; and Terror Twilight) at various record shops as I find them (all at pretty good prices for new vinyl, I might add). I know there are a bunch of other EPs and singles out there, but it seems like those 5 LPs and 1 EP are the "main discography", so to speak, or at least the easily acquirable ones. Sometime in the not-too-distant future, I hope to devote an entire afternoon (or more) to sitting down and playing them all in a row and settling on a favorite. Maybe one will jump out immediately. Maybe I'll be more confused than ever. Who knows, really? It will be fun, that's for sure.

In the meantime, what's your favorite and why? I'm really curious about the reasons for these types of decisions. Feel free to chime in with just an album name for the sake of a general poll, but I'm more interested in logical and/or metaphysical explanations, here. So have at it.

Some old, some new: British Sea Power

Okay, the holiday season is wrapping up, students are getting back into the swing of classes, musicians are warming up and starting to tour again, and labels have awakened from the sleepy late-December doldrums and have started to release the first candidates for "Best Music of 2k11". And by that I mean there's going to be some good new stuff coming out in the near future, after a few (relatively) agonizing weeks of pretty much nothingness.

The first promising release of the year, I think, comes from British Sea Power. Maybe you've heard of them? Maybe not. I first got into them in college thanks to a couple of friends who were fans. The songs on Open Season and The Decline of British Sea Power were pretty quirky and fun to my uninitiated ears and I listened to those albums periodically over a year or so after hearing them. A couple years later, I went to visit a friend in D.C. and was lucky enough to catch BSP playing at the Black Cat club one night, and that was pretty sweet. I hadn't listened to them recently enough, and the only song I actually recall them playing is "Apologies To Insect Life", but that was also before they put out Do You Like Rock Music?, so I imagine they played a few songs from that. My answer to that question was a resounding yes, by the way; the album is totally bombastic and sagging with guitar solos, which led some folks to rag on it (the infamous U.2 rating!), but I thought it was perfectly fun and listenable, so fuck p4k. I have honestly yet to listen to Man of Aran, their 2009 release that doubles as a soundtrack to a 1934 documentary film, but it seems interesting enough that I'll go back and watch and listen (maybe simultaneously!) at some point.

In the fall of 2010 they put out the Zeus EP, a not-so-unexpected departure from the aforementioned "straightforward rock" of the-album-with-the-inquisitive-title. Its eight songs span 34 minutes, which is rather long for an EP, and the ideas contained therein are expansive, as well; feedback on the guitars, tinkly piano, reverb on the vocals, languishing drones, squealing synths, and some kinda strange digital/autotune effect on the final track. It's strange and fascinating. It's BSP trying to get back to what they did best way back when: fuck with the standard rock formula. And they're doing this after they "perfected" it enough to get Pitchfork to equate them with the most "modern rock band"-ish of all "modern rock bands", these days.

And now, there's Valhalla Dancehall, officially released today, January 11, 2010. I listened to it (streaming on the AV Club) once through and found it be an interesting hybrid of these two paradigms they've embodied thus far in their career: quirky, classic-rock-inspired yet decidedly new and modern, guitar-heavy but vocally-driven indie-pop songs and over-the-top, can-you-possibly-squeeze-any-more-anthemic-guitar-riffs-and-choruses-in-there rockers. I'm looking forward to buying it (somehow). Will it be my favorite record of 2011? Seems unlikely. Will it be in my Top 10? Maybe, but that's hard to say. Will I enjoy listening to it in the meantime? Of course. So give it a shot. Maybe it'll be your favorite!

Here's a song from the new album:

and for completeness' and interest's sakes, here are some of my fave songs from their older albums (that I've heard), chronologically backwards:

Stream of consciousness album review: The Velvet Underground & Nico

For all of the music bloggery in which I've been participating lately, it seems like I've stayed away from album reviews and similar static assessments of a piece of music's effect on me and my mind and my ethos and my what-have-you; rather, I tend to stick to concert reviews and brief blurbs about songs that represent my temporal and visceral enjoyment of those pieces of music. However, I recently read the 33 1/3 series book on The Velvet Underground & Nico and it was fan-fucking-tastic. I've read some books in that series that were terribly boring and some that were absolutely fascinating, so I wasn't sure what to expect from this one and was pleasantly surprised. This is such an influential and seminal and important album and it would probably be so easy to fuck up writing about it, so I give mad props to the author for doing an awesome job with it. I actually read the whole damn book (it's only like 100 tiny pages) on the MegaBus ride from Pittsburgh to NYC earlier last week, and along the way, it reminded me of this thing I had written a few years ago, and I was only just able to refind the document now. I wrote this "essay" during college, when I was at home over summer break (I didn't remember when, exactly, just knew it was sometime at home). So yeah, long story short (or already short story even shorter), I smoked a bunch of weed and sat in my room listening to The Velvet Underground & Nico on my headphones and wrote a "poem" that was basically a stream-of-consciousness review of the album, in the sense that I just typed out what I was thinking at the time and what the music reminded me of, and how it made me feel, and all that jazz. Yeah, I know, it's a fucking hippie idea, but in retrospect, I'm really glad I did it; when I started to play the album, I had already heard it probably a hundred times, but I thought that I should record this listen, that I should commit to this time and think hard, and record my thoughts, and that's a hard thing to do. Seriously, I recommend that you do it for your favorite album: make yourself recognize why you love it and what about it makes you think (or not think, as the case may be). Anyhow, I caught all these words down on record, and thankfully saved them on my external hard drive for posterity's sake (or at least my own morbid retro-curiosity's sake). So here they are, those precise words I typed onto my laptop about 5.5 years ago when I listened to this fantastic album in the middle of the night in my room, stoned and carefree, letting the language flow freely and feeling the music. Or whatever. Just enjoy it. (I recommend listening to the album and reading along slowly, trying to fit the words to the moods of the songs; the paragraph "breaks" correspond to new tracks, so you can time it right via that.)

“experiment two: album review”
8/3/05

paranoia sets in right away
and in the sense more
literary
than figurative
it’s beautiful and slides right
through my ears and out my eyes
that close slightly
in wonderment
I’m watching out
for the world
the rising climb of heartbeats
settles in to rhythm
smoothly, with force
that calms the fingers
and now I know
the bangs are coming up next

a cadence rather
quick and controlling
that sways my eyes
and head
I see him dressed
in black
I see the man who strolls
and bounces, wild hair
flowing off the back
out from the straw hat
and I don’t seem to mind
the sense of time
that kills me
that I want to kill
that I can run away to
silence, muffled screams from
deep beneath the pillow
goodbye cruel father time
I’ll do you in with this here
jab
and sigh
here we go again
listen to both sides, the waves
of tangled melodies on
high
here she comes

back and forth they run
across the viewscape
watching where they step like
hawks that circle
vicious
dying prey
the men she sees are like that
to her, spent with life and needing
one quick pick me up
a tease, a fatal flick
of fingertips
that sets off bells
that ring and ring
but never wake you
fading away

shrieks
awake you now, from just
behind the blackened curtains
heavy with soot
and leather boot straps
what do you see?
I see her waiting you
fingering impatiently
while you humble
yourself on the rug
when is it time to pass out
like the homeless drunks
on the corner that spit
on the cats and expect
them to bow in return
to their majesties
taste this blood
this body
and drown me with
your sound
your voice
and plucking strings
and let us, weary, sick
and satisfied
play fool
to the devil’s snaring charm
shake me from my
sleep

quickly now
to the top of the mound
where we tumble back down
and right into the street
angels scream and battle
just above our heads for
recognition while the morons
in the alley just outside the bar
know nothing of the world-changing
minds that sit no more than
one hundred feet
from their sorry asses
the waitress wraps her toes
around the floorboards
flashing smiles that could
melt dark doorways with
the charm of sixty year old
birth marks
and pimples
why is it so much easier
to imagine the scum of
the earth
and the ones who threw it
all away
for fleeting passions

pity washes eyelids
from their tears
and plays with my emotions
now, approaching midnight
silky robes that float
behind the masques
of death will hold me
down no more
on Wednesday, Thursday
and Sunday’s doorsteps
where the friendless cry
and the bountiful
socialites
lie to the faces
of the very ones they think
they can believe in
and convince themselves of
every day
tomorrow will
be the same
no parties

here comes the genius
skating in on the wings
of a wavy tyrant
brandishing his fist
at the passers by mocking
his story, his written glory
of the kingdom
he never knew
and has been searching for
since he could ever know
what life was meant for him
the drops of white foam
dripping down the mouths
of the howling dogs will
not explain my desire
a thousand years pass
me by at sea
and here I sit capless,
clothes no longer
off my back but
rumpled staring back
at me from the closet space
like coughing flower buds
dying slowly
and reluctantly
thunder pounds the brain
now, smacking the rivers
of thought and pulling
at weeds and overgrown
patches of grass on the
lawn
I collapse on the front yard
and stare up at the sun
like a curious child

there it goes
all the time
around the sky
hit me, drop me to my feet
and clobber me
blue with the notion
of foggy minds and hazy
streets that call your name
over the passing clouds
flying away
and fly fly flying off
the lamp posts
like owls heading
for the moon

reflect me now
tangle me up in blue
and cross stitch the patterns
the jangles
and wind swept flower beds
into my eyes
twisting my mind
like the sunrise
choking on the mug
of hot coffee
that’s just too much
right now
I’ll be you tonight
you can be me
this time

ripping sunlight
off the roof tops
calling out loudly from
the dark, city streets
in the northern part of town
no one hears but the
gods
and the men who have seen
the darkness before
ugliness abounds
and there goes the dawn
running off
like a blindfolded horse
that will dash like
a madman for the white
picket fences
as grandma rings the triangle
for supper time
and the whistle calls out
goodbye to the lonely remains
in the fields
I choose to move on

I hitch-hike off the
dirt road leading to nowhere
but death
and dash to the airport
for a straight flight
to Paris
I feel green on the way
and vomit
like a sickened lover
in the metal bathroom
sky high
and ripped
torn by shards
of glass that scatter
from the circle
of rats that shiver and
scamper away
flying and landing
and resuming the journey again
no end in sight
for a weary traveler
of his forefathers’ lands
and glorified mountain passes
through the charted wilderness
the time has come
for the talk of endings
we sit calmly on the turbulent
cavalcade
as the other jet-lagged
passengers huddle in
the corner like beaten
dogs
I sip at a whiskey
and slowly melting ice
while you laugh and
flutter your eyes
but now we are gone
there is nothing
here anymore

2010 Yearend List: Top 10 Live Shows, plus all Draw Us Lines posts

In case you didn't know, I also write some articles for Pittsburgh-based music blog Draw Us Lines. It's a pretty sweet gig, I gotta say, and I'm grateful to Jim and Blake for giving me the chance to share my thoughts and words with their audience. In the spirit of this week and all the 2010 yearend lists, I've collected here all of the stuff I've written that's posted on their site, including my list of Top 10 Live Shows of 2010 from this week's listorama. Check 'em out and be sure to follow Draw Us Lines, as well, for plenty of good stuff!

Concert Reviews:
09.13.2010 The Black Angels / Fillmore Jive @ Diesel
09.30.2010 Pavement / The Beets @ Central Park, NYC
10.11.2010 Lohio / Donora @ Brillobox
10.13.2010 Mariage Blanc / New Shouts @ Brillobox
10.21.2010 Meeting Of Important People / Ceiling Stares / Neighbors @ Howlers
11.09.2010 Frightened Rabbit / Plants & Animals / The Phantom Band @ Diesel
12.01.2010 Jenny Owen Youngs / Wakey!Wakey! @ Brillobox

Interviews:
10.08.2010 Allison Weiss
11.11.2010 Lower Dens

Show Previews:
09.28.2010 Quest For Glory Tour @ Garfield Artworks

Band Profiles:
10.26.2010 The Spires
11.03.2010 Old Canes
11.16.2010 Bear Hands
11.29.2010 Bottomless Pit
12.10.2010 Reading Rainbow

Song Diaries:
10.06.2010 The Spires / "Held"
10.11.2010 Sharon Van Etten / "Save Yourself"
11.01.2010 Belle and Sebastian / "I Want The World To Stop"
11.30.2010 Warpaint / "Undertow"
12.06.2010 Atlas Sound / "Here Come The Trains"

Record Store Recons:
10.18.2010 RSR #2, Academy Records
11.19.2010 RSR #4, Wicked Discs

Concert review: Big Hurry / The Slow Reel / Lauren Zettler

Thursday, October 28, 2010 at Lava Lounge

I'd only seen one show at the Lava Lounge prior to this one and, interestingly enough, that was also a Big Hurry show (back in August 2009: Big Hurry, Landline, Nik Westman & the Central Plains). I recall thinking, at the time of that first show, that I was in the bowels of a volcano and had trouble seeing the musicians. Since then, I've been back to the Lava Lounge and its bowely volcano-ness many times (spelling bee on Monday nights, w00t!) and based on that reconaissance, I was sure to snag a front row spot for the musicians this time around; that way, I could see and hear everyone really well. I'm glad I did; there were three sets of music from three bands/musicians with markedly different styles and it was super cool to see them up close.

First up was Lauren Zettler. I'd actually heard/seen her name before somehow via the whole Allison Weiss / Bess Rogers / Lelia Broussard / Jenny Owen Youngs / etc. female singer-songwriter circuit that I've kinda fallen into lately, much to my own (and others', I suppose) surprise, but they've all been pleasantly surprisingly enjoyable for me. I hadn't heard or seen LZ before, but roughly knew what to expect based on her association with the above group, and I was quite pleased with the result. Her voice is incredible, I have to say, and the guitar stylings were a nice deviation from the usual "girl with an acoustic guitar belting out tunes about love" kinda deal, especially since she had another electric guitarist along with her, and he was really good. Lauren would sing her heart out and play the main chords on her acoustic guitar, and the other guy would fill in some great solos and such with his electric guitar. It was really solid and tight and lovely and endearing and everything else wonderful. I do look forward to hearing her songs again, somehow. (Download a live set of hers in L.A. here.) Here's a video of her playing "Out Of My Mind" live in NYC in September 2010:



Second up was The Slow Reel, a.k.a. "the Pittsburgh band formerly known as Small Cities". I think I'd seen their old name tossed around the blogosphere, but didn't really know their music. Based on this one set, I think it's safe to say they play in a kind of 70s Southern-roots rock revival style reminiscent of bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Tom Petty (especially since they played the intro to "In The Air" during their sound check, and I found them playing the full cover version during a set on the WYEP Third Thursday's podcast; download that entire set here and subscribe to the podcast while you're at it). The lead singer was the male bassist, interestingly enough, and there were two female backup vocalists, one of whom played keyboards (but she looked completely bored the whole time, as Jim pointed out, which was kinda weird). Then there was a lead guitarist and a drummer, making for five band members crowded onto the main volcano platform. I enjoyed their songs, all originals (I believe, save for the sound check), and they fit into a nice genre niche that doesn't seem to be addressed by other Pgh bands. The singer did some funny- and fancy-looking toe-tapping dance moves along with the songs, and he said the word "pants" over and over to do the sound check. Funny. And he had a sweet beard. Here's a video of them playing at Howlers earlier this year:



Third up was Big Hurry. I've seen them a handful of times now, and I'm always impressed. Every set is pretty tight and controlled, never too sloppy (not to say they don't have fun onstage; I think I saw a missed intro or something at this show and the guitarist was laughing it off with the others), and their songs are just so damn good. Dani's drumming is incredible, Andy's guitar solos are beauteous, and with Lenny's bass lines they form a perfect backdrop for Kelly's voice. They played a couple of new numbers at this show, so I'm definitely looking forward to a new release from them in the near future. Here's a video of one of those new songs from the show. Audio quality isn't great, sorry:



Lauren Zettler
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The Slow Reel
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Big Hurry
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Film review and video jam: Janis Joplin at the Monterey Pop Festival

Film: Monterey Pop
Director: D.A. Pennebaker
Released: December 26, 1968 (rereleased in 2002 as part of the Criterion Collection)

Artist: Big Brother and the Holding Company
Song: "Ball & Chain"

When you've borrowed a movie from the library at least three times in the last year, it's a sign that you should own that movie. Also, when Barnes & Noble has a 50% off sale on Criterion Collection movies (with free shipping over $25), it's a sign that you should buy some movies. And that's how I came to order the fabulous documentary Monterey Pop online while watching it at the same time. I even bought the bonus version with a couple hours of extra concert footage and interviews. Totally worth it. The footage here is astounding. D.A. Pennebaker and his crew are able to get right up onstage with the artists and make you feel like you're standing in the front row back in 1967, but they also throw in little snippets of video of the crowd and the festival promoters and everything, and it makes the whole film feel like a time capsule for that particular three day event. There are just so many fantastic performers and performances in this film: Canned Heat, Simon & Garfunkel, Jefferson Airplane, The Who trashing the stage after playing "My Generation", Otis Redding crooning to the crowd, Jimi Hendrix making sweet sweet love to his guitar during an awesome cover of "Wild Thing" and then lighting it on fucking fire and coaxing the flames from it before smashing it to pieces, and Ravi Shankar playing his sitar better and faster than any human being ever. I can't wait to see the extended version!

My favorite clip from the film, though, is definitely Janis Joplin belting out "Ball & Chain" with Big Brother and the Holding Company. It's a good tune, but I don't think I ever appreciated it that much until seeing this live version. Joplin is on fire with this performance, from the little move where she passes the microphone away from her mouth and then back really quickly to the way she stamps her foot when she hits the high notes, to the way she just turns around and pumps her fist for the last note. It's incredible. It's crazy to think that she was probably hammered at the time (festival organizer and Mamas and the Papas member John Phillips mentions in one of the bonus interviews how Joplin was very nervous and was drinking Southern Comfort right before their set). There are brief shots of Mama Cass Elliot (also of the Mamas and the Papas) sitting in the crowd, totally transfixed, and then mouthing the word "Wow" at the end. Check it out:

Concert review: Bettie Serveert / Atlas / Aaron Jentzen

Wednesday October 27, 2010 at Brillobox

This was an interesting (i.e. odd) show for a few reasons. First, this was Bettie Serveert's first time ever in Pittsburgh, which is somewhat improbable for a long-established indie rock outfit but not so improbable given that they're from the Netherlands. Second, given their long-standing-ish popularity-ish, they were booked at Brillobox for $15 tickets. Third, I happened to win 2 free tickets through Opus One. Fourth, my guess is that the average age of the audience members at this show was probably 35ish, with a high standard deviation. Fifth, it was a pretty sparsely-attended show, for such a hyped band. Sixth, the three bands played different styles of rock music, and I never would have thought to put any two of them on one bill, let alone all three. Seventh, I was running late to this show since I had just finished an intramural soccer game at CMU and had to take a quick shower and then head to Lawrenceville. Eighth, I walked all the way from campus to Brillobox, even going out of my way to Craig Street and then up to Centre Avenue and then up Milvale Avenue to Liberty Avenue, just to stay along the route of the 54C bus, among others, only to have not a single bus pass me on my entire lengthy walk which took over half an hour and made me miss most of the opening act. Ninth, this has been a bit more than "a few reasons" so I should just start talking about the show from the beginning, when I arrived there.

Aaron Jentzen was playing when I arrived, sweaty and thirsty. I saw him play at the Brillo once before, so Jim and I hung out by the back bar while I chugged six glasses of water and a beer to cool off. Aaron has a great voice, I'll say that, and the other guitarist has some serious skills, but the overall sound isn't really my cup of tea. (Just went back and reread my other review, and I used that exact same phrase; must be a sign, eh?) Also, the lyrics in that song about Pablo Picasso never being called an asshole were weirdly irksome to me, even though the music was better than the other stuff I've seen. Go figure.

Atlas played next and the major thing that Jim and I agreed on about them is that they are really loud. I mean, REALLY loud. I thought the drummer was going to smash his shit apart. He also had drumsticks that were some kinda dark brown, almost black, color so maybe they were actually made out of some magic material, keeping him from breaking the drum skins. Outside of that, they had a cohesive grungy, gloomy rock sound. I've never really listened to a lot of metal or hardcore music in my life (I honestly can't name one Metallica album, for example, and the only song I can think of involves the Sandman somehow...) so I'm going to fail on spotting comparisons and influences for this band, but bear with me. The singer had an okay voice, but the bassist's voice was way better, based on the one song of his that he sang towards the end. I think if he had sang the whole time, I really would have liked it a lot more. But I have good things to say, too. The guitarist on stage-left was using all sorts of pedals and effects and really crafting some cool guitar sounds throughout their set. I just wish I could have heard him over the drummer. Check out this video of their song "Lucky Soul", it's decent.

ATLAS | Lucky Soul from ATLAS on Vimeo.

I actually had no idea what the band members of Bettie Serveert looked like, except for the strikingly blonde lead singer, Carol van Dyk, and I saw some very Dutch looking gentlemen emerge from the side door and do some silly dancing and mock-shoving of each other during Atlas' set and figured it was the band (it was). I first found the via some feature article on eMusic and downloaded Lamprey and found another album (Attagirl) at the library later. They make some straightforward indie pop-rock with highly melodious guitar and vocals; it's all really infectious and hooky, and the epitome of this is their song "Ray Ray Rain":



(This video is from the mid 1990s, so they all look really different, too.)

At the show, they seemed to stick to songs from their recent release, Pharmacy Of Love. I've only heard a few of those tracks, and they skew more towards guitar-driven rock than the sweeter, vocal-driven pop songs they wrote in the past, but I'm not complaining; I like both styles, and the fact that they can do both, back and forth, in one song is pretty cool. It's also really impressive how much the Dutch accent does not come out in the vocals; some of their between-songs banter was almost unintelligible to my ears, but that may have been because I was still reeling from Atlas' deafening set. We had to skip out just before midnight so I didn't catch the end of their set, but I was really impressed with how they came across live. I've enjoyed the two albums of theirs I have, and have been waffling on whether to dive into more, and now I'm pretty sure I'll get my hands on Pharmacy Of Love somehow. Good stuff. Here are some of my favorite songs of theirs, and singer Carol Van Dyk singing the Velvet Undeground song "Venus In Furs" with a full orchestra!

Aaron Jentzen
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Atlas
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First/last interview on Hugh's blog

Bettie Serveert
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Concert review / upcoming show: Big Snow Big Thaw

Sunday, October 24, 2010 at a cozy house in East Liberty



Okay, this is partly a joke and partly serious :-) Big Snow Big Thaw is actually my buddy Jim (from Draw Us Lines) and his friend Dave, who I've met a few times now. I forget which one is Snow and which one is Thaw, so they'll have to set you straight on that. This wasn't quite a "concert" in the sense of the shows that I usually attend; this was an informal gathering of friends and acquaintances on a beautiful Sunday morning in the fine autumn time for some pancakes and coffee and a serenade of songs from the two aforementioned gentlemen. I have to say I wasn't entirely thrilled at the prospect of bussing to East Liberty at 10:00 a.m. after a late Saturday night, but in the end, I'm really glad I did. This place was at the end of the street in a quiet neighborhood with a fenced in yard so the extremely energetic puppy dog could run around freely. There were a dozen or so folks there, in all, with a few faces I recognized and some new people to meet. We were served vegan banana pancakes and maple syrup from an old rum bottle, plus a spread of delicious fruit, and a plate of bacon for the meat-eaters. Oh yeah, there was a big jug of coffee, too, thankfully. Neil Young's Harvest was playing on the stereo and I could hear the leaves rustling in the wind outside through the porch screen door. It was the perfect setting for some folk music.

After milling about for a while and chatting with folks, we settled into our chairs for an intimate performance from Jim and Dave. Jim plays banjo and Dave plays acoustic guitar and they both sing, and they do all of it well. With no other accompaniment or effects, they really filled the living room of this place with lovely sounds and heartfelt tunes. The first song they played was a cover (forget who, sorry) and then they played a bunch of originals that one or the other or both had written, plus one other cover song (a sweet version of local band Boca Chica's song "Lake Erie"). The banjo/guitar combo works really well for them and they have good vocal harmonies, with Jim hitting more of the high notes and David staying in the lower range. They had soft, melodic songs and quiet moments mostly, but they could really bust out a rockin' riff if they had to, and they did that a few times; in fact, this was the first time I'd seen an audience member tell a musician that his folk song was "badass". All in all, it was a really good time. I don't want to spoil the surprise too much because their first show is coming up rather soon: Thursday, November 18th, 2010 @ the Lava Lounge on the South Side. They're playing with other locals Dandelion Snow and the Justin Andrew Band. Lava Lounge is a fairly intimate venue with a small stage, so I think it will suit them all well. See yinz there!

Concert Review: The Walkmen / Japandroids / ARMS

Friday, October 22, 2010 at Mr. Small's

It's always nice to see a bill with three bands you know, let alone three bands you actually like, so I consider myself lucky to have seen all of these guys in one night. That said, there were the usual ups and downs of any concertgoing experience, but I think I had such high hopes for the show overall that it made the downs feel more downy. So if my review seems negative, take that with a shakerful of salt, because it actually was a really good show.

ARMS is a band that I had randomly found on eMusic last year somehow and I downloaded and have enjoyed their album Kids Aflame. They also recently released a free EP which is a solid continuation of their indie pop/rock shoegaze sound. At this show, they played six or so songs, most of which seemed to be from the new EP because I didn't recognize any of them. They had all four guys (drummer, two guitarists, and keyboards/synth) crammed into the very front of the stage in front of a couple towers of amps (all of which turned out to be later used by the Japandroids guitarist). They were all fairly energetic, but the keyboardist was really getting into it, dancing around while playing and shaking his body really fast (although that may have just been a requirement for hitting those sixteenth notes with the tambourine). Check out the video below of them playing "Emily Sue, Pt. 2" from their new EP live back in January 2010 to get an idea of what they're like. I really enjoyed their set and wish they'd had time to play more.



Next up was Japandroids, a band I'd seen back in October 2009 at Garfield Artworks and boy was that a fun show. I really like their debut album Post-Nothing, full of hooky guitar melodies and screaming, singalong vocals. I'm still amazed that it's just two guys making all that sound. The show at Garfield Artworks was fun because it's such a cramped space and a tiny stage, and their loud sound really catered well to that. But for this show, Mr. Small's is such a giant, spacious room with huge, high ceilings and I think it didn't suit their style as much. Also, singer Brian King had kinda lost his voice for some reason, and was drinking from a big mug of steaming tea (I presume) and so they couldn't really pull off those screaming vocals that I enjoy so very much. Instead, it was just drummer David Prowse doing the shouting and Brian doing some low, quieter vocals. They still sounded solid, and the drumming and guitar work were as awesome as ever, but when a group of six frat bros in the front row singing along to "Young Hearts Spark Fire" are competing with your volume level, you know you're in trouble. Overall, though, and barring the voice problems, I thought it was a good set of material from their album and from the string of singles (stringles?) they've been putting out this year. Oh, also, David totally broke his cymbal stand during a song and had to play the rest of it without that cymbal since it fell off. It was kinda neat to watch him strike the air where the cymbal used to be with his stick to keep time and not get tangled up. Thankfully, the drummer from The Walkmen lent him a replacement and the show went on. Check out this video of "Young Hearts Spark Fire" below to see them when they're on their game.



Finally, The Walkmen sauntered out and assumed their separate positions onstage and played a long set of songs, mostly new but some old, including one encore. The two overwhelming impressions I took away from their set was that singer Hamilton Leithauser has an amazing voice and that these guys practice a lot. They seemed so polished and professional that they didn't even need to look at each other. A song would end, they'd acknowledge the applause, and then they'd launch into the next one with little fanfare or pause. It was an impressive display, for sure, but I don't think I'm as much of a fanboy of their material as some other people I know are, so although I enjoyed the way in which they play music and I was thoroughly awe-struck by Hamilton's ability to just keep belting out those tunes, I found myself almost bored by the end of it. I think my friend Robert summarized that ennui best later on when someone said something like, "Oh, I really liked that song they played called ---whatever it was---" and he replied with, "Yeah, it was so good they played it 12 more times." Kinda harsh, maybe, but funny and not so inaccurate, really. I would have been fine with them playing a few less songs. I might have left with a more positive attitude towards them. Still, I have enjoyed listening to their latest album, Lisbon, but I'm afraid it will go the way of their other albums I've listened to: I'll play it through a dozen or so times within a month or two of getting it, and then forget about it until another one comes out. Ugh, like I said, I don't mean to sound negative. I did really enjoy the show as a whole; I'm mostly just quibbling about the fine line between great and fan-fucking-tastic. I found this video of them playing "The Rat" at the show. This was definitely a high point of the evening, a really high one, I'll give you that.



ARMS
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Daytrotter session

Japandroids
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Daytrotter session

The Walkmen
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Daytrotter sessions 1, 2, 3

Concert review: Old Canes / Pete Bush & the Hoi Polloi / (Joy Toujours and the Toys Du Jour)

Wednesday, October 20, 2010 / Brillobox



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).



joy toujours and the toys du jour
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Pete Bush & the Hoi Polloi
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Old Canes
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Website, with free stream of their first album, Early Morning Hymns
MySpace page for related project The Appleseed Cast

Concert review: Fruit Bats, Boca Chica

Saturday, October 2, 2010
Garfield Artworks

Still catching up on reviews; this was a few weeks ago so details are hazy but I remember having a really good time. Boca Chica was good: folksy and upbeat with good guitar-playing and vocals. Fruit Bats were great: exciting and enthusiastic folk-rock, lots of good guitar work and percussion, and the vocals were a perfect match for their instrumental sound (his voice wouldn't necessarily work with anything, I think).

Unfortunately, I pretty much entirely missed the opener Jaybird; Leigh and I were running late for the show for some reason. I had emailed Hallie from Boca Chica earlier that week to buy two+ tickets from her, but we got there towards the end of the first set, and someone was standing at the door offering a last-minute ticket for $10 (they were $15 at the door) so we took it. Turns out, that was Hallie! (Sorry we were late :-\ I guess I owe you.) We walked up towards the stage and took a seat on the floor in the middle of the room and cracked open our East End growlers which were deliciously delectable brews. Jaybird ended up being one guy with an amped guitar plucking raw emotion from the strings and belting out his lyrics over the fucking chatty folks hanging out near the entrance. I wish I had caught more; I liked what I saw.

Boca Chica played a solid set next. Lead singer/guitarist Hallie was quite good, imbuing their songs with heartfelt (sometimes melancholy, based on the lyrics I could make out) emotion while maintaining an upbeat character to it all. The other male guitarist was really amazing, and I was super-impressed with his lap guitar playing. Their bassist was also reeeeeally pregnant; I can't even believe she was onstage playing! They made a joke during their set that the baby would automatically know all the bass parts of the songs by osmosis. I'm looking forward to seeing them again; Boca Chica is one of those local bands that I've somehow missed out on seeing every time they're around, and now that I've had a sampling, I definitely want to experience more.

Fruit Bats played last and really rocked the house, in the sense of ... well, getting the crowd excited with their songs and playing them really well. I had heard a few of their songs before, including a good Neil Young cover, and found one of their albums at the library, and I had heard thru the internet-grapevine that their lead man was now part of The Shins, which is pretty fucking cool, I say. Their songs embody a really catchy and rockin' blend of indie rock, folk, country, and pop. The drummer was good, their lead guitaritst was good, their bassist was good. Shit, they were all really good musicians. They are truly a band, you know what I mean? It's impressive to see a group of people so confident in their sound and songs really hammering that all out onstage, sharing the experience with the viewers. I was drawn in the whole time and really enjoyed their set. I'm not sure how much I'll enjoy listening to their albums outside of that, but if any part of it recreates the live experience in my mind and ears, then I'll definitely like that. And I will certainly see them live again if they pass through town. Check out this live video I took at the show (they introduced it as a new song from an upcoming album):



Jaybird
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Boca Chica
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Story on NPR! (with free mp3 download)

Fruit Bats
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Wikipedia
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Concert review: Breathe Owl Breathe, Strand of Oaks, Agaglady

Thursday, September 30, 2010 at Garfield Artworks

Okay, I'm getting a bit behind on some live show reviews, so it's time to catch up. I actually didn't know much about these bands going into the show, but the guys at Draw Us Lines had been repping them pretty hard lately, and the song or two I'd listened to on those posts were all well and good, so I figured I'd check it out. Glad I did.

I showed up at the Artworks a little late, having just grabbed some pizza and beer at Graziano's down the street a ways. I walked in to find rows of chairs set up and one guy standing in front of the usual stage area strumming a guitar and singing and fiddling with a little electronics box with a handful of wires. That went on for a while. Agaglady was really not for me; let's say that. I typically think that there's always some element of good in any music, and part of the appeal is trying to identify what that is and how much of it shines through the other shit, but god damn sometimes it's hard to do that. I'll admit that I liked this guy's earnestness and devotion to his "craft" and he seemed pretty adept with whatever that little electronics box was, but other than that I was struggling to enjoy it. It was mostly his voice, I guess; some of the little electronic melodies were decent and nonstandardly catchy, but it didn't come together nicely with the other elements. Oh well, can't win 'em all, you know?

Next up was Strand of Oaks, which is actually just one guy (Tim Showalter) playing guitar and singing, and boy does he do both of those things well. The string-plucking style was pretty new to me: he kinda used all of his fingers to strum an assortment of strings with one chord set and then used the amp to make this into a kind of beautiful sound cloud from which his soulful voice emerges like a ray of sunshine after a thunderstorm. Yeah, something poetic like that. It was seriously mesmerizing to watch. The day after the show, I went ahead and downloaded his album, Pope Killdragon (exclusive to eMusic, actually), and it sounds different. There are some synthesized sounds and vocal effects and the guitar is more "strummy" but it's also great. I just think that the blanket of melancholy and gravitas that his songs exude was more evident in the live setting. I could see his face contort into almost pained expressions when he belted out some lyrics and did that thing where you lean your head back from the mic a little bit because otherwise you'll drown out the guitar melody you were already playing . . . Check out the video below I took at the show of Strand of Oaks playing "Alex Kona" from that album, and then compare it to the album version. It's slightly different, yeah? But they're both good, yeah? Yeah.



Breathe Owl Breathe capped the evening with an awesome set of what eMusic calls "gentle, lovely folk, nursery rhymes for grown-ups". That's not totally accurate, but it's pretty darn close. The first song they played involved a story about a wolf, and they donned a hat with a puppet wolf on top. (Check out some great photos of that and more from the show here.) A later song began with an audience sing-along of nonsense-lyrics/sounds and then became a saga about a dragon (a draga, if you will?). Singer/guitarist Micah made some interesting vocal effects and whistles with two different mics and did lots of funny hand gestures and dancing, Andrea switched between cello and tambourine and banjo and sang a lot, and Trevor did some great expressive drumming that meshed perfectly with this style of song. Not only are these three people just flat-out talented musicians, they put on an engaging live show that's fun, beautiful, and unique. See them if you can.