Music, Music and more Music
07 07 2007. A magical sunny day with lots of energy in the summer air. Spiral in the park accented with drummers; in the center The Boredoms commanding. The Brooklyn Bridge became the balcony platform to not only hear but view the spectacle. Starting at 7:07 and lasting over 2 hours, the rolling booms penetrated the air. It was captivating to see the unit play in unison and at times have intricate compositions. It was like a flower where the petals fluttered violently screaming to be heard.
I love the free shows at McCarren park, and this year the season started off perfect. The beer lines were much more tame and the slip n’ slide and dodge ball were in full force. Everyone was in good spirits and it was just the right amount of sun. The music was a perfect backdrop for an enjoyable and very Brooklyn public outdoor outing.
I’ve always felt the music of +/- was uninspired and boring and their live show continues with that thought. Oakley Hall had more energy and picked things up a bit with the crowd and doing a better job filling the huge venue. But the highlight of course was North Carolina’s Superchunk. Easily one of the best and most influential punk pop bands, they came out with a lot of energy playing a ton of their songs. Although their newish stuff hasn’t evolved much from “No Pocky for Kitty” (one of the best named albums of all time) their craft for pure indie rock still shines. A very enjoyable free day ending with yummy cheap polish food.
Pictures from the show.
Brooklynvegan has better ones.
Caught the tail end of Rusty Santos’s set. The lead singer had a lot of energy flailing around on stage which gave the show a bit more energy. Although I felt the songs were a bit rough, it’s good to see the band give this type of music some action on stage.
Panda Bear (Noah Lennox ) set up behind a small table of electronic boxes to a sold out crowd. He began to play his series of songs and ones from his newest album “Perfect Pitch,” which is pretty fantastic. The music is highly layered and his use of repetition helps tame the varied melodies found in the album. His songs are meticulously constructed making it very engaging and not too formulaic. The music was enjoyable live and at times became trance-like, but with electronic based music like this, not much energy came out of the room. Behind him a very large screen projected psychedelic scenes ranging from color mutations to disturbing looped scenes of screaming fans. I felt the imagery complimented the audio very well and without it would make a pretty dull show.
Pictures from the show.
Somehow Grizzly Bear successfully filled the large room with their lush melancholy songs. I was impressed on how their delicately orchestrated songs translated live creating a unique ambience inside Town Hall. They brought all the whistling and eclectic instruments, even a recorder, to play their contemporary pop songs. A very inspiring set.
Feist took the stage to a very receptive crowd and started the evening with good momentum. The venue was quite fitting for the evening and the rest of her tour. She’s been playing old theaters across the country and even did a song celebrating vaudeville. She played a wide selection of songs including a very old one never released before called “Red Pioneer” which was beautiful. The sound was perfect and she displayed a lot of energy during the entire set. Her new album is really growing on me, but experiencing the songs live was the real treat.
Pictures and video from the show.
Although the show was mainly filled with industry people, I got lucky to see Interpol at such a small venue. They are releasing their new album “Our Love to Admire” in July and the one song I’ve heard so far is quite catchy. The stage was decorated with futuristic led lights and dimly lit light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, adding to the ambiance for the intimate evening with the band.
Tonight they had set up their sound man on the floor next to the stage. I’m guessing to better tweak the live production and to test out how the new material would sound. The music was very “professional” and the band showed very little emotion, but then again, it IS Interpol. Despite having a good set of music mixed with some old and new songs, the crowd was absolutely dead and the evening had less energy than I was expecting from such a special show. Nevertheless, it was a treat to hear the new material before the album comes out. Although it sounded good, I feel they haven’t pushed their sound as far as they could and are being very ‘safe’. It’s more of the same music and well, we’ve already had a Joy Division.
Pictures and video from the show.
http://www.interpolnyc.com/
With different openers on each of the five nights, I felt this night had the best one with Elysian Fields. I’ve seen this band at much smaller venues, so Bowery would have been a challenge for their quiet sexy rock. Jennifer looked amazing in her glittery dress and played some good songs to a decent crowd. Although 2 of the band members had berets on, they complimented the sultry voice that came from the stage. The highlight was when they covered the Pixies “Monkey Gone to Heaven”. Before the song finished, Jennifer never said good-bye, picked up her purse and quietly left the stage. wtf.
I’m so glad that The National chose to play multiple nights at the better sounding Bowery Ballroom than at Webster Hall. It makes up for the venue switch they pulled on us last year. I’m not surprised they sold out all 5 nights.
So I knew this would be one of the quieter nights from The National, and starting off with “Start a War” would set the tone for the rest of the evening. They played many new songs off their latest The Boxer and the sound was good despite being heavy on the bass. I’m still surprised how much this band has matured through the years. Although The Boxer isn’t doing anything new and not pushing the band in any new directions, it’s a very solid album with some really good gems. The musical compositions are more rich and lyrically more beautiful. But this band really shines live especially on songs like “Mr. November”, “Abel” and their new song “Squalor Victoria“. Towards the end of their set, what seems like the trend now at Bowery, Matt jumped down to feed off the crowd during an emotional rendition of “Abel”. They played for over and hour and not a dull minute.
Pictures and video from the show.
Links:
Stereogum was there, so was You Nork.
http://www.elysianmusic.com/
The National