Live Picks 8/31/08 - 9/6/08
Gone To Montréal
Jonny Leather has fled the country to Montréal, and will probably return on Monday August 25th.
The Walkmen at Bowery Ballroom: Night 2
I gave The Walkmen's new record You & Me a good 30 spins before writing my recent story for NY Press in which I boldly called it the "Year's Best Album." The record has been in such heavy rotation on my iTunes that I've been listening to it more than once a day on average. It's very rare that an album can be devoted such attention, especially with so much great music coming from publicists every day, but it's really just that good. (If you don't believe me, just ask Pitchfork.)
Last night's show at Bowery Ballroom (the band's 2nd of 2 sold out nights) was my first chance to hear the new songs live, aside from watching their Good Day New York performance on Monday morning. On stage, The Walkmen always seem to find a way to bring an extra something to their songs, and it was no different with the new tunes from the album released earlier in the day.
Opening their set with "New Year," singer Hamilton Leitheuser crooned along with lone accompaniment by guitarist Paul Maroon. The song set the chill mood for the rest of the night, with the other three members sitting back before joining the band on "On The Water." After a solid start, the band really hit their stride with "In The New Year." As he's been known to do, Leitheuser brought his vocals to that next level and continued to do so for the rest of the night. The set initially focused on You & Me, but the band gave longtime fans a real treat by playing a block of songs off their debut Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone. Walter Martin's keyboard playing sounded particular wonderful on these songs, and "Rue the Day" may have been the highlight of the whole night (though no song got the crowd more excited than "The Rat").
From the sublime "Long Time Ahead of Us" to the accelerated rock of "Thinking of a Dream I Had, The Walkmen keep proving to be even better live than on record.
A Fond Farewell To JellyNYC McCarren Park Pool Parties
We've had a lot of fun together. Friends since day one, I've given you nearly every one of my summer Sundays since that first one in 2006, and you've given me some really great times. As good as they all have been, nothing quite compares to our first day together.
With the sun beating down on the hot concrete,Tim Harrington ran wild, getting beaned by dodgeballs, flopping around in puddles, and soaking himself on the slip'n'slide—all while rocking out. It was fun, fresh and free, without all the hype that now brings in the masses of scenesters.
Scrawny indie kids walked around trying to convince everyone to put themselves in the trajectory of flying rubber balls. Back then it was just a casual game, more fun than competitive. Now it has become battlefield where musclebound studs go to vent their physical aggression. They come with a game plans and unwillingness to lose, in front of nearly as many spectators as the bands.
The lineups are just as good, if not even better. Well-known indie bands share the stage with up-and-coming acts on the verge of blog attention. We've seen Deerhoof, Of Montreal, Blonde Redhead, TV on the Radio, Liars, and so many other great bands. Back in 2006, we never had to worry about lines to get in or the massive space to reach capacity, but two years later MGMT wrapped a never-ending line around the block, with hundreds unable to gain entry.
As is the case with many locals, the Pool Parties have been a major part of my summers in Brooklyn, and will be sorely missed. Yo La Tengo's performance this Sunday should be the perfect close for a great run of shows that perfectly exemplified what makes summers in New York so enjoyable. But alas, I will not be able to go, so I have sadly already seen my last Pool Party.
In many ways, the last two Sundays were throwbacks to the Pool Parties of '06. With an un-hyped lineup of Felice Brothers, Langhorne Slim, and Eli "Paperboy" Reed, and a bit of rain, hardly anyone showed up two weeks ago, reminding me of the Sunday in '06 when The Walkmen, Dr Dog, and Elvis Perkins played to a small crowd sheltered under the protection of umbrellas.
This Sunday was about as perfect as they get with beautiful weather, and though not empty like the week before, it wasn't anywhere near as uncomfortably crowded. One of hip hop's greatest treasures, Aesop Rock, commanded the stage and gave a crowd used to hearing indie rock a little something different.
It may be time to say goodbye to the McCarren Pool Parties, but we know that JellyNYC will be back next year to bring us more fun summer times—just not in McCarren Pool. And having a public pool really isn't all that bad, is it?
Fasciinatiing: The Faint at Terminal 5
Back in 2001, I was lucky enough to catch The Faint on consecutive nights at Bowery Ballroom and North Six. Each night, they took forever to set up, but it was well worth the wait. Both shows started the same way—keyboardist Jacob Thiele stood front center on a dark stage singing the slow-moving "Sealed Human." Fog, strobes, and the thunderous metal guitar playing of Dapose all ignited with perfect timing to make for the perfect start to two of the finest live performances I've ever seen. This was The Faint at their peak. Danse Macabre had just been released, and with the addition of Dapose on guitar, their live sound had been given an extra boost.
Following the release of Wet From Birth, I saw them at Webster Hall. Though the band had implemented the element of video into their performances, the concert wasn't quite as moving as back in 2001.
Then, until releasing new single "The Geeks Were Right" in June, they seemed to have disappeared. Spending nearly four years between Wet From Birth and 2008's Fasciinatiion, The Faint took the risk of being forgotten, and a lot has changed in these last four years, while people have grown to have less and less of an attention span. Plenty of bands have come and gone under the hysteria of hype, and the '80s retro dance revival scene that The Faint helped create is no longer what it was. So, it was interesting to see the band booked at Terminal 5—the largest venue the band has ever headlined in New York City (which singer Todd Fink acknowledged during the performance). Though they didn't sell it out in advance, and the club seemed to be almost empty until after the two opening performances, they did manage to fill the place.
Just like the old days, The Faint took forever to finally take the stage. Nearly an hour passed between the severely under-appreciated performance by Anti Pop Consortium and The Faint's first note, but with Joel Peterson's first rumbling bass-line on "Agenda Suicide," all was forgiven. Everything clicked into place for The Faint last night as they triumphantly returned to their perch as one of the country's best live bands. Wonderful projected video created a beautiful backdrop, while the band was showered with insane pulsating lights and strobes. The entire band played with a load of energy—especially Todd Fink, who danced around the stage looking like a mad scientist, wearing black goggles and a white trench coat.
Their set consisted of a handful of their best songs from each of their four albums. [We'll just pretend Media never existed. They do.]. New songs like "The Geeks Were Right" and "Psycho" mixed in well but never got the crowd moving like classics "Worked Up So Sexual" and "Glass Danse." It seems like they've been gone for quite some time, and last night's performance was a very welcome return. Let's just hope they don't another four years between records and tours.
Adventurous Listening: Battles, Black Dice, Gang Gang Dance at SummerStage
Battles, Black Dice, Gang Gang Dance
Central Park Summerstage, 8/16/08
Three of New York's finest and most original bands shared the stage on Saturday for a free concert at Central Park SummerStage. Presented in the pleasant outdoor setting of Central Park on a beautiful day, hundreds of people who would normally never come to experience the experimental tribal sounds of Gang Gang Dance got to see them in a perfect setting. The swaying trees played perfect compliment to their mystical songs.
Brooklyn's noise pioneers followed with an ear-shredding set that was not for everyone, but helped showcase the extent of their influence over the entire NYC music scene.
Headlining was maybe the most accessible and brightest of the three bands, Battles. The instrumental math rock quartet glistened with a dizzying array of spiraling guitars and keyboards, and the most precise drumming on the planet. Though he was the only member not utilizing loops, sequencers and modern technology, John Stanier seemed the most inhuman, keeping better time than a machine with his superb drumming. Loaded with the talent of four incredible musicians, who are fully aware of the capabilities of modern technological, Battles displayed that there is still new musical frontiers to explore in the 21st century.
Live Picks 8/17/08 - 8/23/08
Bus A Move
The Walkmen Survive Daily Travels On The Chinatown Bus To Create The Year’s Best Album
The Walkmen
Aug. 18 & 19, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. (betw. Bowery & Chrystie St.), 212-533-2111; 8, $20.
The adventure of the Fung Wah Bus usually begins when you reach the bus stop, but it hardly ever ends there. On busy days, a ticket in hand never guarantees a seat, and the sight of fisticuffs near the entrance is commonplace. Any pushovers lacking the will to fight will indeed be appropriately pushed over. And once you’re on the bus, the ride can be frightening, unpredictable and generally unpleasant. Still, cheap prices attract adventurous passengers willing to take chances on a line with a known reputation for breakdowns, foul odors and inconsistent scheduling.
Five of these adventurous passengers are members of indie-rock band The Walkmen, who have grown quite familiar with the bus over the years. With band members and practice spaces in New York and Philadelphia, nearly every day of the week required half of the band to make the trip while recording the new record, You & Me.
Perplexed as to how an album chock full of enchanting nostalgia could surface under these bizarre circumstances, we asked lead singer Hamilton Leithauser to shed some light on the situation.
NY Press: How did you guys end up spending so much time on the bus?
Hamilton Leithauser: I live in Manhattan, Pete and Walt live in Brooklyn, and Matt and Paul live in Philadelphia. We were doing the trip two days a week and they were coming up once or twice as well— sometimes neither camp wanted to make the trip. It was actually probably a good thing for writing, because it put a certain pressure on the times the five of us were together. Our practice space in Chelsea was an on-again-off-again illegal nightclub, so some Mondays we'd come in and the place would be absolutely disgusting—poorly cleaned up vomit on the stage and bottles everywhere. The toilets, which were on the second floor, leaked and dripped down through the ceiling, so occasionally it would hit you on the head. In Philadelphia, we rented a space from our friends for $75 a month...If it's moderately cold outside, it's 20 degrees colder inside, and vice versa if it's hot.
It seems that there are more reliable bus lines that travel between the two cities at the same price, so why take the Chinatown bus?
HL: It's cheaper. Although now that Bolt Bus can be $1 for a trip to DC. Now that is an undeniable deal. Amtrak is frighteningly expensive, and it seems like Greyhound is obsolete.
Anyone who’s ever ridden this bus line has a story to go along with it. What are yours?
HL: I've been broken down on the side of the rode several times. There are a surprising amount of those weird, unexplained stop-offs at rest stops, where some guy will be standing in the middle of a dark parking lot, and the bus will drive up to him and he will exchange some brief words in Chinese with the driver.
A few weeks ago, we were stuck in awful traffic getting out of Manhattan. They were showing "Message in a Bottle" starring Kevin Costner and Robin Wright Penn, and the traffic was so bad that the credits were rolling by the time we got into the tunnel. We finally got onto the Jersey Turnpike like 2 hours after we'd left, and the driver pulled off to the first rest area and some woman in the front row yelled just "Motherfucker!" The driver was so visibly scared of her that he slowly turned the bus back onto the Turnpike and we never stopped.
You & Me has been said to be the product of your obsession with rock & roll legends like Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley. What draws you most towards these classic sounds and production techniques?
HL: They're just the kings of rock so it would be impossible to not be influenced by them. We love the classic "whole-band-in-the-room" sound that those guys and countless others were doing. All of these people have a pervading optimism that is so likable—it's something we admire and wanted to try to incorporate into our stuff.
Some critics are calling You & Me a return to the sound of your firrst two records. Do you feel pressure to return to earlier sounds?
HL: We recorded some of this record in the same room as Bows and Arrows, so maybe that has to do with the sound. The pacing on this record took honestly 30 or 40 hours of discussion. I guess some people are still always asking about “The Rat.” I don't know why. Maybe we will redo it for our next record. Or just put out an EP of six or seven live performances. Or we could ruin it forever by doing a reggae or dance hall version.
In 2006, you released a record of Harry Nilsson covers, and you recently recorded four Neil Hagerty songs. What’s next on the cover song agenda?
HL: I'd like to do Dr. John, or maybe Van the Man.
What are you most looking forward to about your upcoming show at the Bowery Ballroom?
HL: Gin and tonics.
Should I Be Embarrassed For Listening To Conor Oberst?
Sunday night, with a bit of shame, a new friend revealed her secret like for Metro Station, and in particular, their song featured in the commercial for Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Led by Miley Cyrus’ 19 year-old brother, Trace, Metro Station's "Seventeen Forever" is the typical type of generic synth pop punk trash that has the potential to get lodged inside your head whether you want it there or not.
For one music industry insider to share such embarrassing information with another is not easy, especially within the context of our first real conversation. Reputations are put on the line with such openness, and she wasn't going to be the only one to bare her weakness for cheesy music far removed from the Pitchfork-approved realm. So, with it swung back around to me, I was left to answer the question "what is my music guilty pleasure?"
A pretty girl and a few glasses of whiskey can unlock my most embarrassing secrets.
The first names that came to mind and leave my mouth were Journey, Air Supply, and every cheesy '80s band I could think of. Understandably, she was unimpressed with my choices. Through the wonder of irony, these sort of overblown cock rock balladeers have become cool to the hipster community, and therefore the cloak of shame is no longer attached. I was going to need something way more embarrassing to match Metro Station—but nothing came to mind.
Two days later, I read Judy Berman's "Turn Around, Bright Eyes" piece for Salon. Like a bodybuilder admitting to his love for sappy romantic comedies, Berman opens her story stating "I like Bright Eyes. There, I said it." Two paragraphs in she goes as far as saying "nothing embarrasses me more than my secret love of Bright Eyes, once the drippiest act in all of indiedom."
I've been a fan of Bright Eyes for nearly a decade, and never really knew how much shame there was in finding solace in Conor Oberst's melodramatic song writing and angst-filled quiver. There have been a few times that friends have compared him to a male vagina / mangina, but it never dawned on me how potentially embarrassing an iPod loaded with ever song Conor Oberst has ever written could be.
Berman has nothing to be ashamed of. Her gender should protect her dignity when revealing her love for Bright Eyes. Women are socially accepted as the more emotional of the sexes. They're allowed to show weakness, but my manhood has been at risk with every purchase of a new Bright Eyes record.
My musical taste is hardly restricted to Bright Eyes, but within the depths of my ear canal, there is a vagina needing its fill of melodramatic songs of love and hurt. The Veils, Bon Iver, Elliot Smith, Nada Surf and Red House Painters frequent my ears with their passionate and soul-baring words. Without them, I feel lost. I'm not a total sap. I just as frequently listen to Hot Snakes, Shellac and Fugazi, but I still have a soft spot that that "drippy sentimentality."
Possibly an attempt separate himself from the ‘whiny emo sap’ label linked to Bright Eyes, Oberst ditched the moniker this year, and released his first album under his own name. Seen by critics as an act of growth, Oberst's solo record is another step forward in the maturity of Oberst as a songwriter. The songs are not nearly as bogged down with melodrama, but there is still emotion left in that quivering voice. Once labeled as the "next Bob Dylan," his lyrical gift is still his strongest asset, though his songs are sounding more influenced by Neil Young than Dylan these days.
There will probably never be another Dylan, and it's not as though he's no longer around. He played Prospect Park last night.
Meanwhile, fans filled the Bowery Ballroom to see Conor Oberst play his first NYC show with his new persona and band, and I was among them. If Berman was right, then being seen there could be self-destructive for a music writer wanting to be taken seriously, but I was willing to take the chance. He would have easily sold out a much larger venue as Bright Eyes, but that's not who he is, and he proved that by avoiding playing any of his old songs. With less familiar tunes making up his set list, Oberst still faired well with the crowd. The band confidently played a strong set pleasing even those fans hoping to hear "Lover I Don't Have To Love" or another of their favorite Bright Eyes songs.
I don't know if I should be embarrassed, but I like Conor Oberst, I like Bright Eyes, and I'll probably continue to like anything Oberst writes no matter the name he chooses to link to it.
All Points West: Day 2 Photos
Radiohead
See photo slideshow of Radiohead
The Roots
See photo slideshow of The Roots
Kings of Leon
See photo slideshow of Kings of Leon
Black Angels
See photo slideshow of Black Angels
Animal Collective
See photo slideshow of Animal Collective
Metric
See photo slideshow of Metric
Felice Brothers
See photo slideshow of Felice Brothers
All Points West: Day 1 Photos
Radiohead
See photo slideshow of Radiohead
Girl Talk
See photo slideshow of Girl Talk
Andrew Bird
See photo slideshow of Andrew Bird
Underworld
See photo slideshow of Underworld
CSS
See photo slideshow of CSS
Grizzly Bear
See photo slideshow of Grizzly Bear
Duffy
See photo slideshow of Duffy
New Pornographers
See photo slideshow of New Pornographers
Mates of State
See photo slideshow of Mates of State
The Go! Team
See photo slideshow of Go! Team
Tonight: Union Hall Presents Music At The Bridge
It's beautiful outside, so instead of going home to watch Wife Swap and check the status of Scrabuluos' existence, we suggest spending the night in DUMBO. The good people at Union Hall will be curating a free evening of live music and comedy, featuring headliners French Kicks. This event will begin at 6pm at the historic Tobacco Warehouse, located at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park section of Brooklyn Bridge Park. Comedian Dave Hill will play the role of host, while Secret Science Club, Tiny Masters of Today, and Headlights are also scheduled to perform.
For more information, head to brooklynbridgepark.org
The Walkmen Daytrotter Session
In March, The Walkmen recorded a session with Daytrotter, offering up 4 Leonard Cohen covers. The band recently returned for another session, this time recording 4 Neil Hagerty/Royal Trux covers.
