Music, Music and more Music
Bishop Allen is from Brooklyn and plays catchy Rock n’ Roll that you want to sing along to. Although the lead singer was arrested a few days before, he was luckily released just hours before the show. They seemed to have a really good time on stage (despite the sound problems they were experiencing). Their songs seemed a bit rough around the egdes and sometimes too simalar to Modest Mouse, but there could be some potential in their future output.
What a nice treat for Nada Surf to play a small initmate show before their big national tour. I’m glad they are still pushing their new(ish) album “Weight Is A Gift”. Although not as solid as their last, still a gem of an album. I’ve seen this band over a dozen times already, including acoustic and electric shows in the last few months. They seem to always be at ease playing in NY and this night was no exception. They played a lot of old tunes and all my favorites from all their albums. I was bummed they didn’t finish off their encore with “Meow Meow Lulaby” but still a great show.
I have a new crush and her name is Jenny Lewis.
So I finally got to see Owen live. He cancelled his show last year and the show before that. WTF?! I was also happy to have an excuse to go to Maxwell’s, which is still one of my favorite venues. The show was surprisingly sold out, but that was probably due to the headlining act that attracted every 12-18 year old in New Jersey. Openers B.C. Camplight actually weren’t that bad, but I was there mainly to see Owen. He had a partial beard and had uncanny resemblance to his brother. And much like Tim, he was quite rude and aloof on stage. Unfortunately the crowd was not receptive and he only played 30 minutes. He did play my favorite songs so not all was lost, but not worth seeing again. Closing act I Can Make a Mess like Nobody’s Business is the reason why all emo music should be burned and buried. They had terrible song structures, even worse lyrics, and kept rehashing crappy emo songs that was popular many years ago. Walked out after the 3rd song. Genuine audio garbage.
I missed Chad Van Gaalen at the Plug Awards the night before, and 2 months ago, so I was glad to finally see this amazing singer/songwriter. He started off the show saying how terrible the Plugs were and went into a new song. Luckily he had a much better crowd at Mercury. He had a unique setup of guitar effects and looping devices to create very layered songs and was able to play the more “rock” songs live. His live show was great and quite different than the studio sound. He makes up for last night.
It’s official. Indie Rock has become as boring as the Grammys. The Plug Awards came to Webster Hall and I had high hopes for the night as it had a ton of great bands performing. And much cheaper than the very crappy Spin show last year. The very funny Aziz Ansari hosted the event and performers included: BEANS w/ HOLY FUCK, CHAD VANGAALEN, CELEBRATION, CAGE, MR LIF & Akrobatik, EMILIANA, THE NATIONAL. playing only 25 minute sets (if that).
The show was slow, boring, and ironically enough, none of the performers won ANY Plug Awards. And I (and most music geeks) disagreed with the winners. I wouldn’t even rank the winners in the top 5 of the list. Best New Artist of the Year: “Clap Your Hands and Say Yea”. Are you fucking kidding me?? Best Indie Rock Album: “Bloc Party” . Whatever… For Best Female Artist, presenter Langhorne Slim pulled the winning envelope out of Rob Crow’s butt and announced that Coco Rosie won (which I agree) and then walked off stage, at the same time “Neko Case” flashed across the screen. That pretty much sums up the event.
Another moment that captured the mood of the show was when Pitchfork went to present Best Album Of The Year, and the douche bag just started to read an article from the New Yorker. It went on for more than 10 minutes. The crowd didn’t care and neither did TV on the Radio who was waiting for the dickhead to shut up. Kyp even took a picture of the idiotness. Just like the website, the writers themselves are long winded, boring, pretentious fucks.
The only award I agreed with was Avant Album of the Year:(whatever the hell that means): Animal Collective – Feels
and in the words of Rob Pollard. “Fucking Bright Eyes, That Fucking Bright Eyes, What a dick.”
links:
Noone Cares About Your Blog
http://www.plugawards.com/
My Pictures from the show