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.
I missed Tanlines open up but I assume they were great as the previous shows were loads of fun. Delorean‘s album Subiza has been the perfect summer album. Its a set of tunes to say goodnight to a hot summer day. However tonight the chillfest album was kicked into high gear as the crowd enthusiastically clapped, jumped and danced throughout the night. The band played their very lush dance pop and the show turned into a great dance party. There was even some crowd surfing.
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.