Music, Music and more Music
What? The Wrens are working on a new album?? Yea, I can’t believe it either. Tonight they play an intimate preview show of their new stuff. Most of it was still very rough, but what I heard was very promising. It’s great to see the band very relaxed and happy on stage and especially cool to hear songs not quite completely finished yet. It was a treat to be exposed to their creative process.
Brooklyn’s Palomar host 5 nights at the Rock Shop promoting great music-related causes for kids. I’ve seen this band numerous times never being impressed, but they played better shows this time around.
Since the 80’s Walter Schreifels has been a hugely influential musical figure being in notable bands like Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits and Quicksand. Tonight he played a great set of catchy indie rock to a pretty thin crowd. Surprising, considering he’s probably one of the better singer songwriters out there.
Tim Fite is somewhere between folk and hip-hop. His latest album is a harsh indictment of consumerism and the American dream of selling out. Tonight he was without Sexy Leeroy but made an appearance via “live satellite”. When he’s not stealing audience member’s articles of clothing, Fite performs incredibly funny tunes, usually accompanied by videos of himself singing along. Always a guaranteed good time.
Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor team up again to after 7 years to play an a long awaited Azure Ray show. Their new album Drawing Down the Moon is filled with bitter sweet melancholy songs of lost love. It’s becoming one of my favorite albums of the year. They were perfect in harmonizing tonight and played a great mix of old and new songs. For the encore they allowed some fans to sing along to Rise. Let’s hope they don’t take too long to come back again.
Guided By Voices broke up in 2004 and I witnessed those sad but triumphant final shows. This band has been hugely influential in my music life since my years in Dayton Ohio. I grabbed the chance to see the “classic” Guided By Voices line-up including Tobin Sprout. Even if this meant seeing them at Terminal 5. Despite being a good sounding show from one of my favorite live bands of all time, I will never ever ever go back to Terminal 5. It has an amazing ability to turn any show into a terrible experience.
Fort Wilson Riot, an energetic duo from Minneapolis juggled a variety of instruments to play some very catchy and intriguing songs. Really fun to see live. Part theater, part music, all fun.
Cloud Cult is one of the bands I always buy tickets for. Their live shows have this amazing sense of community among the fans and their songs always contain a lot of positive energy. I was eager to catch them play some of their new stuff. They started the show energized with their 2 artists painting feverishly on rotating canvases and the show never lost momentum. They played many of their hits with added enthusiasm. There was something very special in the air tonight. Maybe it was the perfect setting of the Bell House, the flawless set, or the great new songs, but there was an amazing energy coming from the stage. It was easily one of the best and most moving performances I’ve seen this band do. The live show does a better job capturing the energy found on their new album. I could feel the chance of new beginnings around me. It was an unforgettable night.
A girl prancing around in her underwear onstage will surely garner attention. The 18 year old from Berkshire England had these great electro gothy pop songs. After a few songs I was kinda hooked to what The Good Natured were doing. Someone to watch out for.
Very eager to catch Brooklyn’s Cults. There were way more people onstage than I had expected. I absolutely love their 7″ as it has this years best summer songs that are so damn catchy. However they couldn’t pull it off live and the setting just didn’t seem right. Better listening to this outside on your ipod as the sun is setting over the horizon.
Chain Gang of 1974 is essentially 1 guy from Denver Colorodo. Tonight he had help onstage doing some pretty addictive indie electro tunes to dance to. The set got better and more energized towards the end where he utilized a crazy percussion contraption for the beats. Reminded me a little of Professor Murder.
Venue got really crowded to catch Asobi Seksu. I dig their recordings but their live show just didn’t capture all the nuances and delicacies in their songs. People around me surely disagreed.
Stuck around for School of Seven Bells whose latest album has been heavily played here as of late. When I caught them debuting their new material, both sisters were there, but tonight they were a trio. They played their dreamy pop music to a receptive crowd. An interesting highlight was the drummer proposing to his girlfriend onstage. And on their final night after a long tour, she said yes.
The Good Natured: Be My Animal video
http://www.myspace.com/thegoodnatured
http://thechaingangof1974.com/
http://www.asobiseksu.com/
http://www.myspace.com/schoolofsevenbells
my CMJ photos.