NYC Live Pick for 02.25.10 // Grandchildren
Grandchildren - "Cold Warrior"
Thu 2/25 - 8:00 PM - Cameo Gallery - 21+ - $5
w/Toro y Moi, Twin Sister, VDRK (DJ set)
Jonny Leather’s 25 Favorite Live Performances of 2009
I spend about 75% of my nights at concerts, watching bands I already love but also catching bands I've never heard before. A million things can go wrong with a performance, but when everything clicks a live performance can be a spiritually transcendent experience. A lot of factors beyond the performers control play into the experience. If you're in a crappy mood, tired, or in the mood for something different, in all likeliness you'll hate what you're seeing. When a band can somehow overcome all of these elements fighting against them, something magical happens, and that's why I spend so much time watching live performances. I'm not claiming that the following 25 performances were the best of the year, but they definitely were my favorite thanks to a mix of underlying circumstances, emotional states, and mostly great bands.
25. Paul Holmes (solo) @ Bell House
Opening band, Fugitive Souls were forced to cancel an hour before they were supposed to play after arriving to Bell House to find out that all of their gear had been stolen from their truck earlier in the day. Paul Holmes was at the venue to see friends Hooray For Earth and play a couple songs with them, but I was somehow able to convince him to play a solo set. With no time to prepare and no real plan when he took stage, Holmes played an incredible stripped down set that let his powerful voice shine.
24. Animal Collective @ Prospect Park
The combination of Animal Collective's bizarre electronic psychedelia and laying on a grassy hill staring at the stars with my biggest crush made for an unforgettable experience. I couldn't tell you what songs were played, or much about their actual performance, but I can tell you that I loved every second.
23. My Bloody Valentine @ All Points West
To watch a bunch of angry Tool fans cry for mercy during the earthshaking "You Made Me Realise," made it worth sludging through a day's worth of mud which led me me throwing away a pair of sneakers.
22. Grandchildren/Rad Racket @ Death By Audio
I was ready to leave but decided to wait to see if Grandchildren was an good. As soon as they played a song, I knew I wasn't going anywhere. And then they switched instruments and a member or two and played another set as Rad Racket. I was blown away.
21. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros @ Bowery Ballroom
I had no idea what I was in store for, but was instantly convinced Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros will be stars in no time.
Read my full review for NY Press here.
20. Phoenix @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Best pop rock band of our time.
19. Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers @ Bell House
Raw, energetic, and talented, Shilpa Ray is the frontwoman this city has been lacking.
18. Pete & The Pirates @ Bell House
About a half hour after this performance my life totally fell apart, but while the Pete & The Pirates played I was still on cloud nine.
17. Hooray For Earth @ Bell House
There's probably not a band I've seen more than Hooray For Earth this year, so picking one performance is hard, but with Paul Holmes joining them for this one, I think it was my favorite.
16. Harlem Shakes @ Southpaw
A triumphant return after a long hiatus.
15. The Walkmen @ Central Park
Best band in NY. Hamilton Leitheuser sang with an extra level of intensity that day.
14. Motel Motel @ Bell House
A perfect birthday isn't complete without a live set by my favorite unknown local band.
13. Echo & The Bunnymen @ All Points West
Playing most of the best songs they ever wrote, McCulloch and the Bunnymen informed the Coldplay fans what great British rock is all about.
12. Tallest Man on Earth @ Bowery Ballroom
How can one man with an acoustic guitar have such an incredible stage presence?
11. Thee Oh Sees @ Bell House
The perfect garage rock band, Thee Oh Sees' John Dwyer displays a connection with his guitar like no other I've ever seen.
10. The Dears @ Bell House and Bowery Ballroom
Two nights in a row, I got to be present for the religious experience that was The Dears' opening number, "Saviours." Singer Murray Lightburn emerged in the crowd singing with soul-moving emotional depth, connecting with every person in the crowd.
9. The Drums @ The Annex
This performance singlehandedly got me out of a nasty funk, and put a smile on my face ten miles long.
8. Deleted Scenes @ Cake Shop
Grizzly Bear and Beach House might've played outside to a giant crowd earlier in the day, but Deleted Scenes played the best set of the day hours later in front of a very very small crowd.
7. Bling Kong @ Bell House
I somehow convinced this band to reunite just because it was my birthday, and although one member came down with swine flu hours before the set they pulled it off.
6. Unicycle Loves You @ Union Hall
After being struck by terrible misfortune in my life less than a day earlier, I nearly broke down when Unicycle Loves You dedicated future hit "Justine" to me.
5. HOLAS @ Bell House
How did I get an Indiana-based duo to drive across country to make their live debut? Well, the drummer just happened to be my older brother and it was my birthday.
4. Paul & The Patients @ The Studio
I still don't know what it was about that made performance so much better than other PATP shows but there was just an extra intensity in every guitar riff, every drum beat, and especially Paul Holmes' emotionally driven vocals.
3. Music Tapes @ Bell House
Julian Koster makes his concerts into something much more than a live music experience. They are imaginative events that are incredibly hard to describe. Amre Klimchak wrote a perfect description of the night here.
2. Your Vegas & Fugitive Souls @ Ronald McDonald House
It's not often you get to see a bunch of rockers play "Old MacDonald" while little kids climb up onto their laps and sing along. This was completely unforgettable.
1. Zambri @ 88 Palace
After dragging myself through a long day where I battled severe depression and a menacing hangover, I went home and took a nap, waking up just in time to run to 88 Palace (a performance space inside the Chinatown Mall). It's amazing I even made it to the venue, but was totally worth it when a quarter way through their set, Zambri dedicated their set to me. It's not every day I have a set dedicated to me. It was incredibly heartwarming, and the actual music performance was also amazing.
Your New Favorite Band: Grandchildren
Grandchildren
From: Philadelphia, PA
RIYL: Fuck Buttons, Hooray For Earth, Parts & Labor
mp3: Grandchildren - "Cold Warrior
Earlier this year, I ventured out to Death By Audio for a late night show by my friends Tropic Of Nelson (members of Depreciation Guild, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, North Highlands). After they ripped through a set of powerful Jesus Lizard style rock, I nearly decided to call it a night and take my tired self home. Instead I decided to stick around to see if the following band Grandchildren was any good, and to provide another body to the very empty floor before them. I'm really glad I stuck around, because the Philly band was nothing short of incredible. Their music has a kind of post-apocolypic feel combining heavy electronics and percussion with more acoustic sounds. Oddly enough, when Grandchildren finished their set, the musicians moved about, switching instruments and transforming into yet another band, Rad Racket. And at that point I wasn't leaving, and the similarly sounding but not identical Rad Racket played an equally mesmerizing set.
Upcoming Tour Dates:
11/21 - Hemlock Tavern- San Francisco, California
11/24 - Valentine’s - Portland, Oregon
11/25 - Backspace - Portland, Oregon
11/26 - Smiley O’Neill’s - Vancouver, British Columbia
11/27 - tba - Seattle, Washington
11/28 - Caterina Winery - Spokane, Washington
12/1 - 501 Club - Minneapolis, Minnesota
12/2 - Turf Club - St. Paul, Minnesota
12/3 - Viaduct Theatre - Chicago, Illinois
12/4 - The Vollrath - Indianapolis, Indiana
12/5 - The Clinic - Bloomington, Indiana
12/6 - Al’s Bar - Lexington, Kentucky
12/7 - Pilot Light - Knoxville, Tennessee
12/8 - New French Bar - Asheville, North Carolina
12/9 - 529 - Atlanta, Georgia
12/10 - Farm 255 - Athens, Georgia
12/11 - Outer Space - Charleston, South Carolina
12/12 - Tipsy Teapot - Greenville, North Carolina
12/13 - Wham City presents @ Jesus Camp - Baltimore, Maryland
12/17 - Cameo - Brooklyn, NY, New York
10 CMJ Bands I’m Already Sick Of Hearing About
Japandroids @ Siren Fest
Every year hundreds of good up and coming bands play the CMJ Music Marathon, and every year the media jumps on the bandwagon of the same 5-10 bands, while a load of other great bands become overlooked because of the media's inability to think for themselves. This is not to say recent festival favorites like Crystal Antlers, Passion Pit, Dan Deacon, Muslims (Soft Pack), Monotonix and Black Kids weren't good, but they were basically the only bands out of hundreds that anyone was talking about. Ruby Suns and Unicycle Loves You were tragically overlooked last year
It's day 1 of CMJ, and people are just picking up their badges but thanks to all of the blog hype preceding the festival, I'm already sick of hearing about these 10 "must-see" bands:
Japandroids
Male Bonding
Surfer Blood
Surf City
Rain Machine
The Antlers
The xx
The Very Best
Cymbals Eat Guitars
Real Estate
This is not meant to be negative towards the bands. I am actually very excited to be seeing a few of these bands this week. The Antlers' record is one of the best of 2009. Kyp Malone's Rain Machine was excellent at their debut concert at Bell House a month ago. Cymbals Eat Guitars are a refreshing return to rock guitar for a Brooklyn scene lost in shitty lo-fi fuzz. And The Very Best are excitingly eclectic.
I'm not as tuned in as in the past with up and coming bands, but while everyone else is standing outside crowded venues looking for a chance to catch Sub Pop's latest signing Male Bonding or good-on-record-but-boring-live Real Estate and The xx, here's 10 bands that won't be a disappointment, because no one's been hyping them to unreachable heights:
Paul & The Patients: Singer Paul Holmes has one of the best rock voices to come out of New York City in years.
Wed. 10/21 @ Southpaw (8:30), Fri. 10/23 @ Arlene's Grocery (11:15)
Deleted Scenes: You won't hear the same song played on repeat for an entire set, yet each song will be brilliant.
Tues. 10/20 @ Cameo (7:00), Thurs. 10/22 @ Union Hall (10:00)
Freshkills: A dark haunting post-punk band that actually isn't concerned with their image as much as their sound.
Tues. 10/20 @ Lit (10:15)
Pete & The Pirates: The best English rock band you haven't heard.
Wed. 10/21 @ Bell House (12:00am)
Loxsly: Part Soft Bulletin-era Flaming Lips, part Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-era Wilco. I know that sounds ridiculous, but this band is really that good.
Thurs. 10/22 @ Union Hall (7:00), Sat. 10/24 @ Spike Hill (10:00)
Dinosaur Feathers: A tropical pop adventure.
Thurs. 10/22 @ Bruar Falls (9:30)
Bear in Heaven: An experimental, psychedelic headtrip that doesn't lose track of melody.
Fri. 10/23 @ Lit (11:00)
Ravens & Chimes: Leonard Cohen-approved orchestral rock, not unlike CMJ-vets Arcade Fire.
Fri. 10/23 @ Mercury Lounge (9:00)
Grandchildren: One of my favorite chance discoveries of the past year, on a late night at Death By Audio Philly's Grandchildren not only blew us all away once with their Radiohead-influenced experimental rock, but most of the band continued on with a 2nd equally amazing set as Rad Racket.
Wed. 10/21 @ Le Poisson Rouge (11:00)
*Broadcast: Okay, so they're a well known band, and headlining one of CMJ's post popular shows, but this wonderful atmospheric electronic band deserves more attention than they're getting. If everyone wasn't going to these shows for Bradford Cox's wonderful Atlas Sound, it's doubtful these shows would be getting much press at all.
Tues. 10/20 @ Le Poisson Rouge (11:00), Wed. 10/21 @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (11:00)
