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When I saw Ligeti as part of the wordless series, I though there would be a special rendition from the unique composer. I was sad to realize that it was NY composer-percussionist Lukas Ligeti on stage experimenting with classical and electronic combinations. At times interesting but mostly discordant muddy sounds.

I’ve been following Juana Molina’s musical career for several years and I am constantly impressed with her unique blend of ambient, electronic and folky music. Her new album “Un Dia” is rich with textured melodies and easily one of her best releases to date. Every time that I have seen her perform she has played solo carefully layering her sounds with the aid of a looping device. I jumped at the chance to finally see her perform with a full band. Accompanied by a bassist and drummer her songs were much more dynamic and allowed her to fully realize her beautifully complex songs live. She had a lively and sold out crowd that gave her an overwhelming reception. For her encore the trio played 1 final new song and a rhythmic 3 cup monte flipping and banging the cups in a choreographed melody. I had her songs buzzing and repeating in my head many hours later. Easily the best musical concert so far this year.

http://www.myspace.com/lukasligeti
http://www.juanamolina.com/

I made a decision to see Balthrop, Alabama again after they gave an entertaining show at Mercury Lounge the year before. I was more intrigued how they were going to fit all the band members on the very small stage. And no, they didn’t all fit, They played a very fun set of folk country jams with live drawings displayed on the screen onstage. They have a new album coming out in the beginning of March and I enjoyed the new tunes live. Lauren Balthrop was a little tipsy throughout the night which gave the show some added entertainment. Still a fun band to see live and I may have developed a crush on Miss Georgiana.

Some pictures.

http://www.balthropalabama.com/

I’m very proud to release the DecaComp. To celebrate the last 10 years of comping the best music of every year, I’ve compiled the last decade into one package, including this year’s 2008 supaComp. I’ve been doing this music curating endeavor for many years and it’s been a labor of love. The many hours scrutinizing what makes it on each year’s compilation always becomes an arduous task, but when it’s complete it’s great to listen to all the great tunes that made the cut. Starting out as an extension of my radio show over 14 years ago, its slowly developed into a yearly exploration of the year’s best and overlooked tunes. The “comps” have always been a celebration of new music and spreading my passion for new and unsigned bands. It’s also a good record of what my personal highlights of the year were and some bands one may have missed. Organizing (and locating) the old comps into the DecaComp was very time consuming but it gave me the chance to relisten to the old comps and go down memory lane. I was lucky to have people return some of the old comps (especially the tape ones) that I had no record of anymore. So I’m very happy to bring it all together and get it into your hands and ears.  And just in time for the holidays for you and your music friends 🙂

Exit Clov is a quintet from Washington DC which create springy happy pop music. With sisters leading the sound with violins, keyboards, and brilliant vocal harmonies it’s hard not to be intrigued. Nothing ground breaking in their catchy tunes but the band is very musically talented and very cute. The fact that Emily plays one of my favorite keyboards, the Korg MS2000, deserved checking out their entire set.

I was spoiled to see Cloud Cult at the tiny Union Hall earlier this year in support for one of the best albums of 2008. They promised to be back to their favorite cities including NY, so I made sure to see them again at Bowery. Roberto was among the hard core fans and had this perspective: “I should start by saying that I went into the concert as a relative Cloud Cult newbie.  I left the show with a pair of distinct impressions: (1) these guys sure do make some beautiful, powerful, orchestral-string-heavy music, and (2) their lyrics often come off as heavy-handed and not-all-that inventive (“…have you found where your place is?” *cringe*).  Simply put, I often (not always) was left feeling that I was listening to a band of mature late 20’s-30 somethings playing background music for a pretty talented 17 year old songwriter.  Their on-stage show kept my eye entertained though, especially since I’m a sucker for interesting gimmicks, e.g two artists painting on a pair of canvases all throughout a show.  Overall, it was a pretty super show by a band who for the most part made up for their lyrical flaws by infusing super-solid musicianship and tons of energy.”

Pictures from the show.

http://www.exitclov.com/
http://www.cloudcult.com/

Wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to see the petite guitar goddess  Kaki King perform in her hometown.  She started off her set with impressive guitar tapping and picking skills and I was quite floored on how talented she was. Although some of her songs wound up being a bit too long and repetitive, her set contained a few live gems.

Finally hitting NY after their release of their latest album Heretic Pride, The Mountain Goats played in the larger NY venues for 2 shows. Despite the sold out audiences, John Darnielle is still able to quiet the audience to a whisper during his songs, and then make them scream out predictable song requests between songs. Although the show was musically entertaining I felt this one didn’t stand up to his recent performances. Performing songs off their Black Pear Tree EP with Kaki KIng, John pushed his songs to unique guitar-driven and jazzy melodies. His intro story to the beautifully bare song “Thank You Mario But Our Princess Is in Another Castle” was very entertaining. “The song is sung from the point of view of Toad. If you know who Toad is, that’s all I’ll need to tell you. If you don’t who Toad is, you better recognize.” However the fact that he didn’t play “Lovecraft in Brooklyn” at a venue IN Brooklyn was a huge disappointment.

Pictures from the show.

http://www.kakiking.com/
http://www.mountain-goats.com/

It’s back. Although I was not overwhelmed with the choice of shows a few weeks ago, they’ve added a whole bunch I got my on. My short short list is here. But the full CMJ lineup here:

Go out and rock!