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The Feelies | Sonic Youth @ Battery Park


Despite the incredibly long lines to get into this free show, I did catch some of The Feelies play their guitar no-wavish rock. Reuniting after 15 years, I was impressed how tight they were on stage and felt their songs held up in today’s musical world.

The sold-out crowd enthusiastically welcomed New York’s Sonic Youth to Battery Park. Kim Gordon started the evening with “She is not Alone” and then into “Bull in the Heather”. The band played a great selection from their past catalogs and even forgot the lyrics to one of her songs. Ending with “100%” for their second encore made this 4th of July memorable. After 25 years, this band continues to impress me with the direction they take their music. Afterwards we didn’t see fireworks from a rainy roof on the Upper East Side.

Pictures from the show.

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Nicole Atkins @ Socrates Sculpture Park

So they parked this giant mobile home/hot dog stand at Socrates Park in Queens. Some bands including Salt and Samovar and Nicole Atkins played inside it for a summer show. It sounded crappy but the day was so perfect you can’t really complain about a free show with a beautiful sunset as the backdrop.

Pictures from the show.

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Interference | Swell Season @ Radio City Music Hall

Never playing before in the US, Interference opened things up tonight with Fergus O’Farrell soulful voice and passionate songs. I was impressed.
Glen and Marketa of Swell Season continue their fairy tale adventure by selling out Radio City Music Hall. They mentioned their humble beginnings playing small shows at Pianos and continue to be in awe of the success they have garnered. Although they practically played the same set of songs from the Beacon show, they did debut a few new tunes and some incredible covers by Van Morrison. Other additions occurred when Marketa invited her sister to sing “Gently Johnny” with her and when Glen invited Inteference onstage to sing “Gold”. The genuine admiration between the 2 could be seen and felt. Unfortunately they didn’t do a Pixies cover, which I have been seeing floating around on the web, but rather “Into the Mystic” by Morrison. Although the crowd and the set was borderline adult contemporary-ish, seeing them at such a great venue was well worth it.

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Cloud Cult @ Union Hall

Minneapolis-based Cloud Cult released their sixth album entitled “Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-partying Through Tornadoes)” and brought the whole collective to the cramped Union Hall stage. The set was very solid with old and new songs and I was captivated by their surreal narratives. I actually love the new album despite the negative reviews. The songs were great live and the encore “Love You All” was strange and beautiful. Craig’s wife joined them on stage with a painting that she created during the set which was later sold at the show.

Pictures from the show.

http://www.cloudcult.com/

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Tenori-On @ Southpaw

Yamaha debut of the Tenori-On happened in Brooklyn with various performers playing it with their distinct styles. The impressive electronic instrument was created by multi-media artist Toshio Iwai and features 256 LED buttons and 10 function buttons. It has studio-quality sounds from real and electronic instruments along with various effects. It’s also a very mezmerizing visual display from both sides and it’s an integral part of the process of making music. Although an impressive engineering feat and a cool idea, it fails on many levels. Creating complex songs is very difficult as the sequencer is “hidden’ behind the 16 levels that are not viewable at all times. The visual component is awesome but only viewable if played standing up and holding the machine to eye level or aiming a camera at it. Cumbersome. And it costs about $1200 which is just crazy. I find this more of a cool gadget rather than a viable instrument. I applaud Yamaha for putting the time and money behind the unique project but I feel it’s going to be a failure. I still love all my existing Yamaha gear though. 🙂

Pictures and videos of the Tenori-On in action

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The Giraffes @ Mercury Lounge

Stop, drop and roll will not work in hell. Came home with ears ringing and clothes splattered with whiskey and beer. The Giraffes brought their devil music to a very rabid crowd at Mercury Lounge. The show was full of alcohol-fueled energy and wished all shows sounded like this. Aaron Lazar taunted the crowd throughout the night but the band won the battle with their intense sound.
Pictures and video from the show.

http://www.thegiraffes.com/