September 26, 2005
I went to Tonic last night not knowing what to expect. I’m not the type who likes to see a preview of a movie and I could have downloaded some of Elysian Fields’ music, but I like surprises. I went on the recommendation of a friend and sat back to listen to the musical creation of Oren Bloedow and Jennifer Charles. Playing just as a duo, Jennifer thanked the audience for letting them practice before their trip. She repeated twice that they were leaving, so I asked, “Where are you going?” She replied in with a whisper into the microphone, “France.” Their new album, “Bum Raps and Love Taps” is being released tomorrow, only in Europe for the time being. Everything about the performance was sexy sultry. Bloedow set the musical tone with his red electric guitar while Jennifer used her vocal chords to let out velvety sounds that formed words, which formed sentences, which become poems. At times Bloedow, took to the grand piano, one point singing the duet, “Passing on the Stairs.” Their outfits full of patterns, Bloedow had on a striped shirt and a checkered hat, Jennifer with a Betty Boopesque polka dot dress, their songs were intense tales of love and life, as with the song, “Drunk on the Dark Sublime.” Just with slight movements of her body, Jennifer had the crowd entranced with her song in French about Jezebel. Between one song, Bloedow picked up a large bouquet of Shiso leaves that was a gift from a farm in New Jersey and told the audience as they were going to France there would be no way they would have use of all this Shiso (Shiso is a leaf used for all sorts of food preparation and presentation in Japan.) He passed the bundle of green around the people and I took a stalk for myself, smelling the freshness. They finished the night with an encore that sounded like Billy Holiday was singing through Jennifer Charles. All the great singers were surely there in spirit to hear one of their own, the notes produced by her subtle voice are incredible to hear. An intimate show with an intimate band, check out these two, or their band Elysian Fields, when they give you the opportunity.
Tags:
elysian fields, tonic
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Posted on 9/26/2005
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September 25, 2005
Gracious fans came out last night to pay tribute to one of the great musicians that has ever come out of England, Paul Weller. As the lead singer of The Jam in the 80’s, he had four number one singles. He began his experiment with soul with the Style Council and has been working on solo projects since 1991. Eight years ago, almost to the date, I had the opportunity to catch Weller play Roseland and last night he showed he still has plenty of energy left. He mixed it up, playing songs from his new album, As is Now, coming out this fall, and peppered the set with old hits from solo albums Wildwood and Illumination and his days in The Jam. There were plenty of good feelings going around with fans screaming out, “We love you Paul,” and Weller responding, “I love you too.” There also were some scuffles in the crowd with high energy and beer colliding but major fights were avoided with common sense and good times coming to the rescue. Weller showed his versatility as an artist switching between an electric, an acoustic, and a twelve-string guitar throughout the night. He pulled the old Style Council hit, “Shout to the Top” and took to the piano with the classic “You Do Something to Me.” He easily electrified the crowd with the old favorite from The Jam, “That’s Entertainment” and ended the show with a bang with “Town Called Malice.” Here’s to seeing Paul Weller in another eight years!
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paul weller, roseland
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Posted on 9/25/2005
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September 20, 2005
Like the remnants of a hurricane passing through town I went out last night to catch an Australian band still in town from CMJ. Playing at Rothko, The Morning After Girls, a quintet from Melbourne, generated a full guitar sound that gave tribute to the 60’s complete with a sexy girl on the keyboards/guitar/tambourines. Donned all in black, mourning a child that will never be I suppose, the band was a total contrast to the last band from Australia I had seen, the Grates. The Morning After Girls were more polished but the Grates were more colorful. No night would be complete without an appearance from Anton from the Brian Jonestown Massacre, coming on stage at times to talk. I heard all of BJM’s equipment was stolen the other day, stranding them in the city. The set was short but sweet, and featured some soft acoustic songs as well. I took to the streets for a nice walk before I headed back to the better borough, Brooklyn.
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rothko, the morning after girls
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Posted on 9/20/2005
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September 17, 2005
Weary from all these nights, I almost stayed home last night to sleep. But after speaking to a friend who was going to check out a cool Aussie band called The Grates at 2am, I headed out to the Lower East Side. I made my first stop at the Mercury Lounge to check out the band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah playing a midnight show and I’ve never seen so large a crowd outside. There were lines on both sides of the club that led to both ends of the street. One held all the CMJ pass holders, not knowing they were waiting in vain never to see the inside, and the other all those willing to pay. Not a fan of waiting in lines, I told the door guys I was on the list and went inside. Of course I wasn’t on the list and I feigned surprise and confusion on what to do next, slowly backing out of the club and becoming the first person on line, much to the chagrin of the people who used to be first in line. Soon after they let the first ten people in, sorry Mr. eleven. Making my way into the backroom I realized that I had seen the side project of the lead singer Alec Ounsworth a couple weeks ago. With a Dylanesque voice, a bit understandable at times, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah impressed the crowd with their full sound. I stayed to watch a few songs by Ambulance before making my way to Piano’s to check out the Grates, a trio from Brisbane, Australia. Patience (singer), Alana (drummer) and John (guitar driver) all met in high school and play their catchy grunge pop that will bring you off your feet. With cute dresses and neon tights, the girls were a bundle of raw energy. Patience obviously had taken written notes of kangaroos’ techniques of defying gravity throughout her childhood and Alana played the drums shoeless and so hard that she broke her sticks during the show. With an EP coming out soon in the US, "The Ouch, The Touch," the band shined with short bursts of sounds such as the “Message,” a two minute power punk farewell song with lyrics like, “Loving you is harder than a kick” and “I’ve got a message for you and it’s gone, gone, gone.” With the fuzzy hard guitar riffs, the band delivered with aptly named, “Trampoline” an ode to getting higher on beds and in cars, Patience singing, “Just for love, if you know what I mean.” I understand the message of the twisting and jumping of The Grates, fun. Check them out as they come back to town this fall.
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ambulance, clap your hands say yeah, live pop, mercury lounge, pianos, the grates
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Posted on 9/17/2005
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September 16, 2005
Last night I was there, Webster Hall. I watched the crowd go nuts for the lyrical flow of Aesop Rock and company. Sporting a Yankees hat, Aesop was in complete control of his followers, leading them along the story of his life with fast rhymes and perfect timing. With funky DJ Big Wiz spinning behind him and the dreaded Mr. Lif to back him up, Aesop used the whole stage to spit songs at the people standing in front of him. An underground hip-hop artist just recently emerging to the streets over the last few years, Aesop’s topics range from his love of the city to his issues dealing with the media and his newfound fame. On indie rap label Def Jux, Aesop brought out his boys to entertain his minions, featuring fellow label mate Cage on one collaboration, promoting Cage’s dropping of his record this coming week. Check out Cage 9/22 at the Bowery Ballroom. El-P and Camu also made appearances and had the crowd rocking with their hands in the air. Aesop ended the show with an old favorite, "Daylight," the crowd rapping the last verses as he put two fingers out in the air and had the whole place end the night in unison on a worthy concept, Peace. After Webster Hall I decided to go with a complete contrast of music, and went to hear Mary Timony playing songs from her newest effort, Ex-Hex at Rothko. Timony, formerly known for her leading Helium in the 90’s, is now complimented by drummer Devin Ocampo. She showed off her skills as a a truly great guitarist with rocks songs and riffs that any psychedelic sixties garage would hail as its best. A few beers in my belly and more music to check out tonight, I went to get some shuteye in my comfortable bed.
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aesop rock, cage, el p, mary timony, rothko, webster hall
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Posted on 9/16/2005
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September 15, 2005
CMJ is in town this week so all the music venues are packed and many a band has come to play their tunes, sing their songs, and sell their wares door to door. It can be a tough call who to choose to enjoy and last night I forsook the Doves, catch them at a free acoustic set in the Apple Store in Soho today at 3pm, the Brazilian Girls, and many more for a night at the Bowery, starring Devendra Banhart and Hairy Fairy, Bean with Holy Fuck, and The Cribs. The Bowery Ballroom is always a great place to kick back with a drink and enjoy the sounds and as I walked up I was greeted by three young stewardess’ in vinyl blue outfits giving out flyers for another show in town, isn’t promotion dandy. I talked to them for a little and then headed to the inside to check out the music. The Cribs, hailing from Leeds, started off strong with their punkish pop song, “Hey Scenester,” and kept that frenetic energy going for the rest of the set. I didn’t know what to expect of Beans with Holy Fuck and was pleasantly surprised to a bumping hip-hop performance by Beans, a talented lyricist and vocalist. He flirted with the crowd the whole set, rapping about anything from politics to sex, not that I think those aren’t related as well. Holy Fuck, the band behind him, played an assortment of electronic devices along with a live drummer. After finishing his set, Beans announced to the ladies that he’d be hanging out at the corner of the stage. I came specifically to groove to the experience that is Hairy Fairy, Devendra Banhart’s new incarnation, playing songs of his new album ‘Cripple Crow.’ I instantly get transported back to different ages of music when I listen to Banhart, a human time machine incarnate. When the band rocked, “Long Haired Child,” a song of the rearing of his kid so that he won’t be freezing in the cold winter nights, I took a trip to the late 60’s and early 70’s, a favorite span of years for me. When he in his hushed acoustic voice played, “Put Me In Your Suitcase,” I found myself in an old folk tavern in the 19th century. Then this hippied out crew brought me back to the present day as they sung their anti-war ballad, “Heard Somebody Say,” which repeats the feeling, “Oh, It’s simple we don’t want to kill.” At one point of the show the band took a rest and Banhart invited any songwriter to borrow his guitar and come up on stage. These two college kids got up and one sung a song about how he was red headed idiot, not how I would put myself out there, but a dream come true for these kids. Delivering some of his old songs, now endeared classics by his fans, Devendra had the crowd more entranced than the piper, with “A Sight to Behold,” and “This Beard is for Siobhan,” which ends with the mantra, “well a real good time, a good time,” something Devendra Banhart and Hairy Fairy provide. As the show finished I noticed a girl with her old school tape recorder and I asked her, “What do I have to do get a copy of the show.” She replied, “Give me your address.” I told her to give me hers as well as I’d recorded a couple songs on video. As I took a closer look, she seemed familiar, and I told her I thought we had met. We thought and discussed for a moment and she said, “I think I’ve kissed you,” confirming my thoughts that a while ago on a Friday night in Dumbo, my friend Jimmy and I hung out with these three girls and I ended sharing an innocent kiss with the girl now standing before me. Random meetings are always interesting and I told her I looked forward to hearing the tape and us being friends. A little weary from the night I slowly started my journey home to get some sleep so I can continue the CMJ fun.
Tags:
beans with holy fuck, bowery ballroom, devendra banhart and hairy fairy, the cribs
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Posted on 9/15/2005
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September 14, 2005
I haven’t seen Erich Bachman perform since the late nineties, when I was lucky enough to catch him fronting the indie-rock band Archers of Loaf. In those days Coney Island High still graced St. Marks Place, now a home for the children of yuppies and chain food establishments. In his new incarnation as Crooked Fingers since 2000, Bachmann has mellowed, no longer singing, “Assassination on X-mas Eve” and “Strangled by the Stereo wire.” I traveled to Hoboken, (yes New Jersey!) to Maxwell’s to listen to a solo Bachmann play his cleverly crafted, hopeful love songs and tales of sadness. Announcing that he had no set list, Bachmann took suggestions from the crowd throughout the night. As I called out some old favorites from the Archers of Loaf days, he replied he’d play them later. I called out, “Liar!” and he replied, “I’m a liar, but not that kind.” Often he ignored the crowd and played new songs that he felt like playing. “Juliet” told the story of a woman slowly being burned by her own cigarette. With subtle word plays, a deep and rusty voice, and insightful rhymes, Bachmann turns this sad story into a beautiful tale. Finger picking his way through the night, he switched between classical, electric, and steel lap guitars. Towards the end of the two-hour set, Bachmann announced there was merchandise in the back. There was an insulting cry from a crowd member, “Capitalist!” Bachmann replied, “Well, the other thing wasn’t working out so well.” During the last few song of the night, Bachmann played some originals and mixed in some covers at requests from the crowd. “Valerie,” is a brilliant song about a man accidentally seeing Valerieundress in her room and wanting it. I actually requested that he play it again as soon as he finished drawing a few chuckles from the crowd. He covered a Kris Kristofferson song about getting stoned and being alone on a Sunday and also reluctantly covered Prince’s “When You Were Mine,” asking for a sing along from the crowd as he admitted to not knowing all the lyrics. After playing for two hours he stepped off stage despite the clamor for more music. A great show worthy of a trip to New Jersey, I’m definitely going to check out Bachmann play his CMJ show at Rothko this Friday at midnight.
Tags:
coney island high
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Posted on 9/14/2005
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September 12, 2005
I was sitting in the Union Square dog park, enjoying the interactions with various breeds I was pretending were my own, when I heard a symphony of wind instruments playing "When the Saints Come Marching In." I walked over to the steps and started to watch a parade of musicians, activists holding black umbrellas, and a few people carrying a black coffin with New Orleans written on the side. Surrounding them was a procession of police officers on little motorbikes. The demonstration was a call for and end of the Bush regime and its policies. I joined in the walk around the park, snapped a few pictures on my 35 mm and enjoyed the sounds of flutes, saxophones, horns, and many an instrument I could not identify. I’m not usually a big fan of parades but this one was pretty fun.
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union sqaure
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Posted on 9/12/2005
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September 11, 2005
The Deitch Project played host to the end procession of an art parade through Soho and I popped in for the last band of the night, A.R.E Weapons. The new installation is a futuristic wall that is completely white and zigs and zags diagonally in and out creating a feeling of being in the movie 2001 Space Odyssey. The Weapons, a local band have been rocking the underground scene for years in various forms. With this incarnation of a four piece, shirtless, lead singer Brian McPeck ran around the stage singing such songs as “Don’t Be Scared’ and “Fuck you! Pay Me! I Want My Money Back!” Always thrashing hard, always entertaining, at one point he told the remaining crowd, “There’s no beer left and If I was here, I would have left, but I just got here to play.” He then took two beers and offered them up to anyone thirsty in the crowd. Noticing my raised hand, he walked up and handed me a semi-cold Heineken. Free beer, free show, what more can I ask for?
Tags:
are weapons, deitch project
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Posted on 9/11/2005
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September 08, 2005
Have you even been to Rothko? It’s on a dark street on the Lower East Side. I went to see the Mobius Band, originally a Massachusetts based trio that now calls Brooklyn it’s home (A move up if one asks me). I wondered what Rothko was named after and I came up a Mark Rothko, US painter born in Latvia as Marcus Rothkovich (1903-1970). I searched for the meaning of the Mobius band and learned that a Mobius Strip, named after German mathematician August F. Mobius (1790-1868), is a surface with one continuous side formed by joining the ends of a rectangular strip after twisting one end through 180 degrees. Take a moment to digest that. Now, Mark Rothko was famous for being a leading figure in color-field painting, painting hazy seemingly floating rectangles of color. If this hasn’t blown your mind yet, then one has to imagine listening to the electro rock sounds, full of blips and bleeps of the Mobius Band at Rothko. Painting and twisting rectangles, squares, triangles and all sorts of different shapes out of sound that would have made both August F. Mobius and Mark Rothko jump up and down. I’m quite certain that they were both there in spirit; Mobius and Rothko were world-renowned partiers, dancing and bopping to the fast paced rock songs driven by a standard drum set and an electronic drum pad played by Noam Schatz. At one point Schatz’s drum seat broke and he played the whole second half of the song standing up, ala early French Kicks. Guitarist Ben Sterling and Bassist Peter Sax switch off singing for the band and also platoon on the various electronic sound making machines. A fun band that we’ll be sure to hear more from in the future watch out for the Mobius, gigging a lot of shows with Orthodox rapper Matisyahu as they go across the country spreading their gospel of mathematics and sound.
Tags:
french kicks, live pop, mobious band, rothko
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Posted on 9/8/2005
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September 01, 2005
“This next one is a song for kids. It’s fun! I think all of us have a kind of kid inside, right? Along with the shit,” explained Miho Hatori to the crowd. Even when she cursed it sounded cute and musical. Hatori, formerly of Cibo Matto is a talented Japanese avante garde pop singer with a penchant for dancing. Gracing the stage of the Mercury Lounge before she had to take off to Japan the next day, Miho played along with her band, a talented group of musicians playing keyboard, bass, three sets of percussions, and a harp. Miho provided the sweet, playful vocals, as well as playing an acoustic guitar for a few songs, along with her backup singer/dancer. Coming out with a new album sometime this year, her sound continues with its share of Brazilian Samba influences that she experimented with in the band Smoky and Miho, and her music definatley encourages the moving of one’s body back and forth, also known as shaking it. Unfortunately the crowds in America, New York even, have trouble letting go to the music and moving beyond a slight sway and before her final song of the night, Miho had to say, “This song is good for dancing.” Really, most of her songs are great for dancing and Miho had no difficulties waving her arms and gyrating her hips throughout the night, even going into the running man routine at one point, ala MC Hammer. At one point she lamented for the passing of summer and her inability to go the beaches in New York, especially Coney Island. The set ended before I knew it, understandably due to travel reasons. Otherwise, I was quite certain that Miho would have played all night, continuing to keep the groove alive. Definitely check her out when she returns to the United States. I’ll be there, dancing.
Tags:
mercury lounge, miho hatori
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Posted on 9/1/2005
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