The New Darker Islands
When the girl wearing the head-gear outside Webster Hall came up to me and told me I looked like a Newsy, I knew it was gonna be a weird night. She and a mass of intentionally nerdy looking kids were on their way to 80s Prom Night. I wasn't.
A few minutes later I was inside Webster Hall, anticipating Islands first NYC performance since the release of their new album "Arm's Way." On the stage was a band named The Magic, who should have been playing for 80s Prom Night instead. They looked and sounded like an retro 80s indie cliche. They even had the really cute chick who's seemingly there more as eye candy than her simple keyboard additions, and the lead singer immediately put the name Rick Astley in my head.
It would obviously be worth waiting for with Islands up next. The last 2 times I had seen them were at unconventional venues, and were 2 of the most fun shows I've been to in the last few years.
Taking the stage, front man Nick Thornburn (Diamonds) had his face painted like a mime. The band quickly began with "Arm's Way," the opening track of their new album. The mood of the night seemed much different than past Islands shows, with the band focusing primarily on their darker sophomore release. The songs are far less immediate than those on "Return to the Sea." "It's a grower" stated the somber Thornburn, who seems to be going through a rough time in his life. His songs were always about death, but this time their not always as light.
Though they played some of the earlier favorites, Thornburn seemed like he was being forced, even at one point introducing "Swans" by saying "this song sucks." And by the tone of his voice, he really seemed to mean it. And he really didn't seem interested at all in playing them, which took a lot away from the performance.
The new songs, which Thornburn was much more excited to play sounded great. The calypso breakdown in "'aime vous voire quitter" was just as fun as on record. The band closed their night by playing a very interesting double encore than consisted of 3 of their lengthiest songs. First came the haunting "Vertigo (if it's a crime)" which included the use of a thick steel chain for percussion. After leaving the stage, they returned to the stage and played the upbeat crowd pleaser "Rough Gem." With the vibe a happy one, Thornburn decided to close it out with the beautiful, orchestral "To A Bond." It was an odd choice to end the show with, but was definitely one of the strongest moments of the nights.
Much like their new album, their performance surely disappointed a large number of fans who were looking for something more fun and upbeat. But also like that album, it's great for entirely different reasons, and it's another reason why Islands are one of the most original bands alive. By the end of the year "Arm's Way" will be on a lot of year end lists.
More photos at flickr.com/jonnyleather
[Written for NY Press]
Live Picks 5/18/08 - 5/24/08
The Heavy Gets The Ladies Wet At Union Pool
Dancing turned to grinding, grinding turned to intensely making out, then their hands became more and more active, more and more skin started show, and by the time the set ended they seemed destined to fuck right then and right there. It didn’t happen, but this interaction between a couple to the front right side of the stage seemed like a strong testament to the type of sexy rock & soul music The Heavy create.
Hailing from the small town of Noid in southwest England, The Heavy have added their name to the current retro-soul invasion being led by the success of Gnarles Barkley, Amy Winehouse, and Sharon Jones. Much like Gnarles Barkley they sound like they’ve worn out all the grooves on their “Superfly” record, but The Heavy rocks harder than any of the other retro-soul acts.
Last night's performance at Brooklyn's Union Pool was as fun as it was sensual. With the band taking stage a bit later than expected, the small room in the Williamsburg bar was still pretty packed. Seconds into the set, lead singer Swaybe had the ladies’ knees turning to jello with his soulful Curtis Mayfield-esque voice. While the other four members provided the perfect musical backdrop mix of dirty rock & soul, Swaybe bounced around the tiny stage, full of passion, often finding his way to the ladies in the crowd. The crowd felt the energy, dancing through the entire set. All of the girls up front got their fair attention from the charismatic singer—who seemed intent on turning on every chick in the crowd—especially during the fan-requested “Girl.” The girl next to me, who requested the song, looked as though her heart was going to explode with a lust-filled burst as Swaybe serenaded her.
Songs like "Colleen" and "That Kind of Man" seem like surefire hits which will propel The Heavy to modest success and larger venues.
Fire Marshal Delays Snowden Concert
We were waiting patiently for Atlanta rockers Snowden to return to the stage to begin their set, when a voice came over the speaker asking the crowd to be quiet. The chatter of the crowd continued on. Without having a face, or giving a reason for his request, the voice had a difficult task ahead of him. Eventually the crowd silenced as it was announced that a fire marshal would need to check if Mercury Lounge was beyond capacity. Surely enough, the man behind the mysterious voice filtered through the crowd, quickly counting the heads of the considerably polite audience. Soon enough, all the heads were counted and Snowden was able to take the stage, with lead singer Jordan Jeffares thanking the crowd for being patient. We were all lucky that there weren’t too many of us, because that surely would have been a problem, and probably wouldn’t have gotten to see Snowden’s great set.
After all of the hullabaloo, Snowden rapidly made everyone forget about the extended wait, starting with a sped up version of “Bullets.” For the second night in a row, a NYC crowd not known for dancing was again moving their feet and shaking their hips. The ultra catchy post punk songs from their debut record “Anti-Anti,” played like a poppier Interpol. A good amount of promising new material made its way into the set, but favorites like “Anti-Anti” and “Filler is Wasted” were the highlights of the set. Bassist Corinne Lee, whose bass lines are often the band’s greatest strength, played with an excellent fury that gave the performance an extra jolt to make it quite memorable.
Prior to Snowden’s performance and the fire marshal interruption, it had already been a pretty good show.
Beginning the night off, Bell exhibited their dreamy pop. Russian born singer Olga Bell, who now makes her home in Brooklyn, has a sound that will draw comparisons to Björk. Her voice doesn’t quite reach anywhere near the heights of the Icelandic pixie, but with the help of vocal effects and echoes and an interesting backing band, the cute singer put on a pleasurable performance. At her best during the poppier songs like EP opener "Echinacea," Bell's most unexpectedly entertaining moment came with a really fun cover of Skeelo’s “I Wish.”
The Epochs followed, failing to blow my mind, but did prove to be promising local Brooklyn band to keep an eye on.
Mississippi natives Colour Revolt were the real highlight of the night. The band’s raw driven rock pummeled its way though the crowd, hammering its way into our heads. I couldn’t help but hear a lot of similarities to Canada’s The Constantines, but Colour Revolt has more of that grungy southern blues in their sound. Their full length debut “Plunder, Beg and Curse” was released earlier this year, helps make them one of 2008’s best new additions to the indie music scene.
Live Picks 5/11/08 - 5/17/08
The Acorn Played This Weekend, and Will Be Playing 2 More Nights in NYC
Earlier today, I walked up the stairs and into the front door of a potential new home, in my quest for a new apartment, and there in the living room sat The Acorn, who I had seen live at Union Hall as recently as Saturday. It was simply a strange coincidence. The guys in the band were friendly as I wandered around their temporary crash pad deciding in my head whether or not it was the right place for me.
The Ottawa six-piece are one of those bands whose name will certainly become more and more known in the indie music world over the course of the next year. Their 2007 release, "Glory Hope Mountain" has been another testament to the high level of quality music coming out of Canada. "Glory Hope Mountain" is a concept album based around the story of the lead singer Rolf Klausener's mother. At times the songs are deeply emotional and natural indie folk, but there is also a nice handful of more upbeat tracks that help give the album an uplifting vibe.
On Saturday night, The Acorn was able to prove that the magic goes beyond recorded form as they filled the songs with extra life, during an exceptionally tight performance. Klausener's voice was just as soulful, if not more so, and the duel percussion worked perfectly.
They played free show yesterday at Williamsburg's Soundfix, and they're still not done in New York, with another show tonight at Pianos, and one on Tuesday at Mercury Lounge (with the equally great Cave Singers). This is a great chance to see a really great up and coming band while they're still playing smaller rooms.
[written for NY Press]
See more pictures at flickr.com/jonnyleather
The Hold Steady, followed by Strippers!
When they finished their set on Friday night, the Hold Steady thanked Target, who apparently sponsored this "Breaking the Band" concert, and a friend turned to me and stated "I don't want my band to ever have to do that."
New York's best bar band has graduated to the big venues over the last few years, growing far too big to play random bars in Brooklyn. And though they may need to thank a corporate sponsor occasionally, and the larger venues don't have that pleasant feel that bars do, The Hold Steady have lost none of what makes them so great.
When they took the stage at 9pm, they knew that the venue needed them off the stage at 10pm, in order to make the transition from rock concert to amateur burlesque contest, so the Hold Steady wasted no time. They just played for an hour straight, with no banter, no tuning, no bullshit. And though they didn't have a huge amount of time, they managed to really squeeze in almost of of their best songs from their three outstanding albums. Lead singer Craig Finn even opted not to take time to talk about his first place Minnesota Twins—a topic that he always raises during a set.
When they left the stage, the crowd refused to leave, hoping for an encore, but the house lights and music started up immediately to signal that it was time to leave, so that the strippers could start setting up. Surely the band would have given an encore if they were allowed, and that sucks, but they were smart and filled up the entire hour with nonstop rock, rather than waste time by leaving the stage with 15 minutes left, letting the crowd cheer for a minute or 2 and then coming back out to play a couple more songs.
Live Picks 5/4/08 - 5/10/08
Tribeca/ASCAP Music Lounge Day 2
Chris Thile was back at the Canal Room on Wednesday to provide more mandolin madnes. As he did on Tuesday, Thile jammed up some bluegrass Bach and this time he ended his set with cover of The Stroke’s “Heart In A Cage.” I don’t know how he managed to pull off playing that guitar frenzy on his own on a mandolin, but he did.
Thile was followed by the equally young and talented Sondre Lerche (pictured). Showing off his new haircut, the Norwegian born songwriter was delightful, playing a catchy mix of swinging jazz and power pop. By the time his short set ended, the mix of free beer and cold medicine had come into effect, and I made my way out of the charming lounge atmosphere of the Canal Room and into the often-unpleasant alternate universe that is the Canal Street, wishing it hadn't ended so soon.
The music portion of the Tribeca Film Festival continues today at Canal Room with performances by Small Mercies, Jack Savoretti, Jessie Baylin, Augustana, and Sia.
Written for NY Press
