How I Lost My Hearing: 200 Pages of Jonny Leather Photography
How I Lost My Hearing is a 200 page collection of my best photography work over the last several years. It's been a project I've been working on for nearly 2 years, and I think it is a great looking book
Preview and Buy it online at Blurb
I will have some copies available for sale at my October 3rd event at Bell House
Spiegel Spiegel Spiegel
The Dodos / Au
Spiegelent, 9.29.08
As I walked into the infamous Spiegeltent—a traveling tent located at the South Street Seaport—I was instantly reminded of the splendor of the venue. Used to seeing live music in dark hole-in-the-wall bars and colossal venues, seeing anyone play at Spiegeltent is always a real treat.
Immediately greeted by the wild experimental sounds of Portland band Au. Au, performing as a duo, generated a surprisingly full sound that actually bettered their critically acclaimed sophomore record, Verbs. In the live setting, the songs aired out and filled the room beautifully. At times their set felt epic, with meandering breakdowns into experimental jams that would return magnificently to the most melodic of their songs. Au fits alongside bands like Animal Collective, TV on the Radio and Dirty Projectors who continue to find ways to bring new ideas into the music world without straying from the idea of melody.
As good as Au were, headliners The Dodos were even better, proving the hype right. The band's 2008 release Visiter is as good as any record put out this year, and helped draw much-deserved attention to the folk-rockers. Performing primarily as a duo (with some extra help on the trash can and xylophones), they created an amazing amount of energy despite having both members seated. Singer/guitarist Meric Long performed while literally on the edge of his seat, bouncing like a maniac. His voice sounded incredibly smooth despite later being revealed that he has mono. Drummer Logan Kroeber was equally passionate, laying down his frantic drumbeats. The additional trash can bangs acted as a perfect compliment to the simple yet energetic songs. Highlights like "Jodi," "Fools" and "Paint the Rust" felt just as immediate as on record, probably more so.
It was just announced that The Dodos will return to Brooklyn in December to play the Brooklyn Masonic Temple with The Walkmen, on December 16. With both those bands on the bill, that's not a show to be missed.
Motel Motel in NY Press
- Photo by Jonny Leather
CHECK-IN TIME
Motel Motel requires no reservations
Motel Motel
Oct. 4 at Union Hall, 702 Union St. (at 5th Ave.), Brooklyn, 718-599-1000; 7:30, $10. Buy Tickets.
Motel Motel is not a statement band. It might be playing at a benefit concert—thrown by the Press’ own Jonny Leather— this weekend for the Jiamini Scholarship Fund (which provides educational scholarships to Tanzanian children), but the quintet isn’t out to change the face of music or throw an agenda at you. Though it will occasionally talk politics. At a show last Thursday, guitarist Mickey Theis said the band had the pending presidential debate in mind and had worked out a dialogue with John McCain, who still had yet to confirm his appearance. “We were joking around and saying, ‘We won’t play until John McCain debates!’ And then John McCain comes back and says, ‘I won’t debate until Motel Motel plays!’” Luckily, the band was willing to concede first.
Motel Motel formed as a trio in 2006 with Theis, vocalist Eric Engel and bassist Timothy Sullivan. Theis explains that the trio played few live shows and was meant more as a “songwriting project” among the three New School students. Engel majored in psychology, while Theis, 21, and the band’s youngest member, is still in school and studies fiction writing. Drummer Jeremy Duvall came into the picture as a friend of Sullivan’s, the two having met in Boston during a stint at the Berklee College of Music. All of the band’s members have some sort of music-study background, except for Engel, whom Theis jokes only wanted to form a serious band because he “just didn’t want to go to grad school.” The group’s most recent addition, Erik Gumbel on pedal steel, banjo and piano, joined within the last couple of months.
The band resides predominantly in Brooklyn and Queens, but during a tour in the summer of 2007, the guys planted some roots in Colorado, Theis’ home state. Motel Motel finished up some tour dates, rented out the basement of an apartment in Boulder and spent the rest of the summer writing and recording songs in spaces that included a spacious music hall at the University of Denver. “The security guards asked us to leave a couple times,” Theis says. “We felt dangerous.” The songwriting process at that time involved Engel coming to the table with an idea and the rest of the group toying with it, but now Theis says every member offers up original ideas and opinions. “It’s an annoyingly democratic band.”
Motel Motel released an EP titled Old York in June 2007 and came out with a debut LP, New Denver, this past summer after a year’s worth of work. The songs reveal a band that respects the elements of alt-country—plenty of twang, chugging guitars, a habit of setting scenes with the lyrics and a vocalist who tips his hat to Ryan Adams—without bowing to the genre altogether. “We all have an appreciation for roots music of America,” Theis says, explaining that it’s something every member of the band can agree on, unlike the story of how the group got its name. Theis tells of several stories behind the name Motel Motel; but the most plausible one involves a friend who worked as a night janitor at a hotel in Denver. The friend, Theis says, was complaining about his job and pondered why the fancy hotel he cleaned was not just called something like “Hotel Hotel.” The group considered this name for a while but eventually settled on Motel Motel since another band already had snagged the other name. “But [Motel Motel] works better for us anyway,” Theis says. “The name is a little sleazier.
Melodic Fuzz
Thee Oh Sees
Death By Audio, 9.28.08
Last night, I found myself sweating bullets and listening to fuzzed-out garage rock at Death By Audio. On the floor was San Francisco's Thee Oh Sees, the new project of former Coachwhips mastermind John Dwyer. The room was packed, and I was so close to the band that I was lucky to survive the performance without having my face struck with a tambourine or guitar neck. The intimacy, and DIY nature perfectly complimented the perfectly raw nature of the grimy music Thee Oh Sees generated in the unbearably hot space. Buried underneath a furious level of fuzz/reverb, John Dwyer and company played a melodic blend of psychedelic, garage-style surf rock that had the room simultaneously shaking their hips and tapping their toes.
For more about Thee Oh Sees, check out Greg Burgett's recent feature on the band.
MP3: "Ghost In The Trees"
Mt Eerie @ Lutheran Church of the Messiah | 9/19/08
Mt Eerie @ Lutheran Church of the Messiah
Seated on the stage inside a warm church basement in Greenpoint, Phil Elvrum asked his crowd to sit, saying that it wouldn't work with us standing. A seated crowd was far less likely to conduct distracting conversation than one on its feet. Phil's music is of the quiet lo-fi variety. The young audience abided to his request surprisingly quick, and soon everyone was on the floor, trying to find a comfortable way to sit in tight spaces. Throughout the performance, our legs fell asleep and we continued to shift our bodies, attempting to find a more comfortable position. It was a subtle distraction, but a sacrifice we were willing to make for an incredibly intimate performance.
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
