Live Review: Dog Day at The Cakeshop [11.28.07]

As much as I admire abstract sound based, experimental stuff, I have a special place in my heart entirely for a band that can cleverly craft a three minute pop song that I'll want to listen to over and over. Given the choice of having other musicians appreciate my intricate soundscape, or a thousand people losing their shit live to a clever beat and minor chords, I have to say given the choice I would pick the latter. I think there is a more obvious danger in the end result, the pressure of becoming a music machine that everything is riding on, demanding ever more and more.



I didn't know anything about Dog Day walking downstairs to the Cakeshop bar. The name "Dog Day" doesn't exactly conjure up confidence for a rocking good pop fun time, more like lazy days on the back porch. This was however the beginning of a band bound for a bigger audience, pop rock at it's finest, songs that can force you out of a crap day. It couldn't have been a better situation in the basement, complete with Christmas lights stapled to the ceiling over Dog Day. After a few songs, I was glad to be witness to this unselfconscious talent, and skillfully crafted melody.

They had a serious intensity onstage, they weren't going to blow it, no stage banter, they were concerned with the performance, pausing to swap out the snare when it wasn't cooperating. Maybe it was the months of touring they mentioned for their latest release Night Group, that kept them focused.




"This song is about someone else's band"....Nancy said and Casey counted off a little punk one and a half minute number that was all guitar and 4/4. They were saying, "thanks" before you knew it. It just reminded me of a time where bands weren't trying so, when people just played music and didn't worry if it would fit on the album. It was more than a great throwaway moment, they were revealing their roots, and not afraid to show it. I find out later that keyboardist Crystal Thili and drummer Casey Spidle also play in the Halifax punk band The Hold. It only stood out because everything else was so constructed and beautifully together, they can take chances, and aren't going to be pigeonholed.





I wouldn't place this far away from the Shout Out Louds either, they instantly endeared me the same way. Or better yet, on repeated listenings of Night Group they keep reminding me of the Swirlies, minus the looped samples into oblivion and the goof, more the back and forth guy/girl harmonies, and an off kilter bounce. Seth vocally carries the songs with a low melancholy quality, which keeps you from completely leaving the ground. Nancy Uric on bass is like Kim Deal, adding the echo backup harmonies, the far off yells and driving bass lines. There's just the right amount of cutsie keyboard, it isn't overpowering, and I didn't think twice about the cat stickers. The point here is that they keep it all in a delicate balance, they haven't gone off the twee rails. They are skating that line of serious unkempt songwriting like a 90's Lou Barlow, but are making sure you have a good time doing it. They are wearing all part of it on their sleeve, but it isn't over the top, and thankfully I'm not completely jaded.

Put into a play list and you'll keep reaching into your pocket turning the volume up, willing out the blue sky.

[Photos by Adam Schatz]

Live review: These are Powers at Death by Audio [11.24.07]

These Are Powers played Saturday night to a hot, packed Death by Audio crowd. Everyone was asked to move away from the wall to leave a corridor for people passing through to the back, it was a good sign.

These Are Powers had spread out from the makeshift stage onto the floor in front of the audience during their sound check and somewhere the noise that was the first song started. Bill Salas had an extensive kit of drums, electronics, and suitcases which spread out to the side and in front of him taking up most of the tiny stage. He stood, working rhythms across the expanse of triggers and actual instruments, building up progressively louder, unintuitive beats.

There are bands that can create sounds that really makes you scratch your head as a musician...I know the sound of most pedals, and I know what a guitar sounds like...so what the hell is going on stage there. I know ex-Liar Pat Noecker was playing bass guitar but I can't say I heard a bass guitar in any recognizable traditional sense. I think that's part of the accomplishment here. They're playing around with traditional semi-tribal elements, the structure, the biological beat. But it goes ever further and is like some kind of world music nightmare, filtered through an industrial sound. Whereas The Liars, Drums Not Dead album works in repetitive hypnotic way to lull the listener, These are Powers are mystifyingly tapping into some sort of primitive futurism to pull you in, this is an ancient un-ignorable magic.

I don't think I've ever really witnessed a crowd literally driven into a frenzy by the band, this was such an audio rhythm assault, and they forced the crowd along for the ride. These Are Powers were so hypnotically infectious, that little by little they persuaded the crowd to move. Every song seemed to just increase this spontaneous energy, except when given the task to clap along, which proved either too complicated to keep up for 4 minutes or, like myself, just too amazed to make a sound and break the spell.



They ended the night with 'Little Sisters of Beijing', all tribal drumming with electronic kettle drum bangs thrown in for good measure. Anna Barie infectiously chants, hoots and parts the audience running through, throwing her head and arms around anyone that will join her...out as far as the microphone cord could reach, the whole time woo woo woo-ing, it's as uncomfortably as close to a drum circle as I want to get. Could These are Powers actually make that a meaningful experience?

I'm convinced.

[Photos courtesy Pete, Feast of Music blog]

Live Review: Bright Eyes at Radio City Music Hall [11.19.07]

Giving the Rockettes a well-deserved night off, Bright Eyes took the stage at Radio City Music Hall for their final show after a lengthy round of touring. Yes, much to the dismay of an elderly gentleman who a friend told us had somehow wandered into the ornate theater hoping to be dazzled by dancing reindeer in the Christmas Spectacular (he bailed during openers the Felice Brothers), Radio City belonged to the thrift store sweater set tonight.

Given a concert venue so formal, it does seem a bit strange that the performance that ensued on this night represented something of a return to form for the band. No fancy suits, no backup singers in matching outfits, no abstract video projections, no “surprise guests” – band leader Conor Oberst and his four backing musicians took the stage in jeans and hoodies, and performed in front of a simple black backdrop, playing a set full of stripped-down songs from older albums Lifted… and I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning. If it weren’t for the massive scale of the theater, the tuxedo-clad ushers and the plush seats, this could have been any Bright Eyes show, anywhere. Perhaps it was presumptuous of me to assume that the band would’ve busted out any number of gimmicks for the “big show” at Radio City, but they certainly did their best to prove me wrong.

According to extensive research (aka the Saddle Creek message boards) Bright Eyes have been focusing predominantly on old favorites over the course of their fall tour, save for two tracks from this year’s Cassadaga; the ironically toe-tapping elegy to society’s ills “Four Winds” and the catchy ode to “leveling out”, “If the Brakeman Turns My Way”. Older pieces like the jaunty “Bowl of Oranges” and “We Are Nowhere And It’s Now” (a song about purgatory, he told us, “because I always thought Heaven would be really boring”) were crowd pleasers, and though the addition of trumpet and accordion added some nice frills to “Lua”, they ultimately eradicated the lovely simplicity of the song. Thankfully the band left the melancholy “Poison Oak” relatively bare, rendering it one of the most beautiful and effective moments of the evening.

Of course it wasn’t all downbeat love songs and nostalgic country tunes. Those who’ve seen a Bright Eyes show in the last several years know Conor loves to get political, and he didn’t disappoint tonight (he just held back until the end of the set.) Prefacing a new song entitled “Roosevelt Room”, Conor gave a short monologue about this mess we’re in, and then exploded into a loud, angry punk number the bilious intensity of which has only been hinted at in his previous musical tirades. I guess desperate times call for desperate guitar riffs, and it would seem, crazy stage antics; Conor dramatically threw his beverage up in the air, spilling liquid onto the floor and then stomping in the puddle to cause a huge splash, like a naughty kid testing out his first pair of rain boots. If it weren’t for the pristine setting, I imagine Oberst would’ve tried something a little more destructive.

It seems so much and yet so little has changed since the days when Bright Eyes were playing ill-attended gigs in basement clubs and coffee houses. The venues may have gotten bigger and the fans more rabid, but at the core, Oberst’s honest lyrics and the bands’ able musicianship have been the constants that have carried them this far. As he performed “A Song to Pass the Time” from 2000’s Fevers and Mirrors, Conor mused, “All I have for the moment is a song to pass the time/A melody to keep me from worrying/Oh, some simple progression to keep my fingers busy/And words that are sure to come back to me/and they'll be laughing, and they'll be laughing/My mediocrity/My mediocrity”. I certainly doubt Oberst’s long-time fans have ever considered him mediocre, and yet I wonder if part of him still believes those self-doubting lyrics that he penned so many years ago. I would hope that as he stared out at the sea of rapt fans lining the balconies of Radio City Music Hall, he felt secure that he no longer needs to worry about being anything resembling mediocre.

[Photos by Mina K]

Rivers releases new (old) Weezer

(photo care of: me and Tom pounding BLs. Didn't have a good picture of Chuck but he's in that killer Jimmy Eat World review from a few weeks back. You can check it.)

Rivers Cuomo, 37 male, is going to release a bunch of old demos in a few weeks and he's previewing one song on his myspace page as we speak. Here's what I thought earlier in an email to my friends Tom and Chuck:

re: you might care about this

rivers has some old weezer demo shit on his personal myspace page. it's alright. apparently geffen is allowing him to release demo cds of all his old material (didnt he tell rolling stone he had like 10,000 songs finished and on DAT or something).

anyways,

it's here.

http://www.myspace.com/1480919

Live Review: Art Brut at 9:30 Club [11.20.07]

Ladies and gentlemen, Eddie Argos has been drinking.

It’s evident from the moment he first sways onstage, clad in his Urban Cowboy via London checked shirt and standard-issue trousers, and confirmed by the man himself a little ways into the set when he cheerfully announces, “I’m a little bit drunk.” And so it is, under a giant screen helpfully displaying song titles, band nicknames, and the occasional lyric, that the inebriated Mr. Argos leads his band of merry men (and woman) through a comfortably rollicking 14-and-a-half song set. (More on that one-and-a-half song later.)

The Art Brut assault on DC begins with “Pump up the Volume,” the opening track from the band’s second album, It’s a Bit Complicated. It’s this song that sets the standard for Art Brut’s performance this particular night, which can be described thusly: geeky, cheeky, and a self-deprecatingly good time. In other words, it’s a standard-issue Art Brut gig.

And so, our tipsy front man fearlessly leads the charge on the stoic Washington masses, causing dozens of head to begin subtly bobbing along while he laments a makeout session ruined by the burning need to hear a song at an inopportune moment. Next on the docket is “Bang Bang Rock & Roll,” the first of many tracks from 2005’s irrepressible debut of the same name. Once the sprightly Velvet Underground bashing ends, Argos has a go at the assembled, teasing, “we’ve been Art Brut, goodnight,” before erupting into giggles while the band summarily launches into “I Will Survive.” While introducing “St. Pauli,” Argos explains that the song is about a little-known German soccer team. He then cracks, with a wide, toothy grin, “Why chart success eludes us, I have no idea.”

After the rambunctious “Modern Art” and “Rusted Guns of Milan,” a song about the “complete lack of sex,” the band fires up “My Little Brother.” And just in case the 9:30 Club patrons weren’t sure, the giant video screen politely tells us to “clap now” at appropriate moments. During a delightful version of “Emily Kane,” now amended to pay homage to all exes not just Miss Kane, Argos, clearly feeling even more nostalgic tonight than usual, throws in little bits and bobs from the Smiths’ “There is a Light that Never Goes Out.”

The lengthy set draws to a close with “Good Weekend,” which Argos informs us is “our biggest hit,” with chart success in Brazil and Portugal. Their chart-topper is turned into a combo platter (the aforementioned song-and-a-half), when halfway through, the band switches gears and begins “Formed a Band.” And then, after an extended end-of-song jam, the band are gone, the house lights come up, and I’m on my way out the door into the chilly DC evening, basking in the glow of another triumphant evening spent in the company of Art Brut.



[Photo courtesty of Art Brut's official website]

Review: Love of Diagrams at Death by Audio [11/18/07]

Love of Diagrams took the stage at Death by Audio after the guitarist Luke Horton yelled out at the last minute he had to go to the bathroom. Seconds later, running back onto the red light stage, they launched into "Form and Function". I can only imagine what has been going on in Australia lately to produce a post-post rock sound like this. Are they as out of place there as they sound here, or is there a scene I'm unaware of Down Under? Love of Diagrams prove that the simple trio is still the best rock vehicle that can run the gamut from quiet minimalism to a wall of sound. Anything else is really redundant. At the same time they have an eastern European constructivist aesthetic on their numerous show flyer's, and on bassist Antonia Selbach's collage album cover. The angular, new wave look suits the music perfectly. They must have met like any great band breeding ground: at an art school in Australia.

They aren't full of spectacle, they didn't speak in between songs. Luke pointed out that one of the songs was from their album Mosaic on Matador Records, as well as the rest of them, as if anyone was unfamiliar with the band, venturing to this former sanitation department building on a freezing Sunday night.

I couldn't see drummer Monika Fikerle's arms half the time, who seemed to masochistically use strings of fills for rhythm structure. She's inhuman, in speed and change. It reminded me of seeing Unwound and Sara Lund banging away with a snare roll for the length of a song while Justin and Vern noodled away with feedback and distortion. It's an exercise in effortless endurance.

But everything rests on Antonia's crunchy bass lines, driving every song. I imagine they write everything on her foundation. Luke adds the perfect high distorted sustain pieces to every song. Songs are all quick, Antonia and Luke singing back and forth but as if they aren't even a part of the same song; I never once thought 'duet', it's complementary but separate. Like the calculated clean artwork, there is a distinct order to these arrangements, Luke constantly would take a moment to retune in between songs and spent most of the time doubled over his guitar, straining to bend strings. They covered a Pylon song on an early EP, and the influence becomes more and more apparent every time I listen. The minimal, bass driven, alien-ness of it all.

I had an argument with a friend later about showmanship, and how if they are performing, they have an obligation, or at least have to acknowledge the idea that this is a show. I disagreed- if a band is as good as Love of Diagrams, it might mean even more that they don't need to rely on any theatrics. This is straight, simple, completely about the music. No distractions.

I guess when you're great, you don't have to be anything else.

[Photo courtesy of kristyliekwhoa from the knitting factory show the night before.]

Preview: Worried Noodles at the Knitting Factory [New York, 12.05.07]

David Shrigley is an artist from Scotland with a very unique sense of humor. See, for example, the following photo:



Or these fancy salt and pepper shakers:



Thanks to the Tomlab label, we now also know that Shrigley has unique taste in music, as his Worried Noodles compilation CD features artists such as Grizzly Bear, David Byrne, Liars and Deerhoof taking their turn performing pieces from Shrigley’s 2005 “Worried Noodles” songbook – a book of lyrics to songs that Shrigley wrote, but never actually composed or recorded.

Take a trip to the Knitting Factory on December 5th and you’ll be treated to live performances of songs from Worried Noodles by album contributors Phil Elverum (aka Mount Eerie), Islands, Yacht, Tussle and more.

Now watch these Shrigley-animated videos and get excited! (Or just more confused.)

[Photos courtesy of David Shrigley's official website]

Live Review: Japanther at P.S. 122 [11.16.07]

In a collaboration of nearly Justice League proportions, noise superheros Japanther hooked up with conceptual artist Dan Graham, poet Penny Rimbaud, and industrial stuff-maker Doyle to create Dinosaur Death Dance, a theater/show/dance/multimedia performance/x at P.S. 122 over this weekend.

Featuring a crazy animatronic dinosaur dipping and swinging his head, the evening might be summed up something like this: bird song dance sweat primal ooze/no audience no performers no band no stage/loud through your whole body. You couldn’t understand about ninety percent of the words going into Japanther’s telephonic microphones or coming out Penny Rimbaud’s spitting mouth, but you sang along anyways (with Japanther) and you did understand that unstoppable impossible feeling of wanting to, needing to dance dance dance and knock into other people while the supersaturated noise bass broke you down and the drums built you up again and you just couldn’t stop and everyone was having an ecstatic time...

This was all too fun to be avant-garde, but the evening essentially consisted in completely rethinking what is possible inside a “theatrical space.” And that seems to be a whole helluvalot. You can skateboard, sing, dance, crawl, scream, crowd surf, run away from the felt teeth of that horrifying dinosaur machine (homemade with wires showing but very fast moving—he ain’t no toy store beast), hug a beautiful dancer girl (Sonya Robbins or Layla Childs) dressed in a weird blue riding hood outfit, dance again, and think, even! Being part of a sweating mass of movement never felt so full of meaning, did it?

[Photo courtesty of PS122.org ]

Live Review: The Thrills @ The Mercury Lounge NYC [11.9.07]

The Thrills are one of those post-modern bands that make your head hurt if you think about it too hard. They're Irish and have a huge Irish following. It's not quite The Pogues but the Mercury Lounge is easily a quarter-Irish on this Friday night. And, with all due respect, the 25-percent of the crowd that claims Irish heritage is predictably drunk and making themselves heard. But. The Thrills don't play Irish music. They play a sun-shiny version of California-pop. There is absolutely no connection between where they come from and what they play. This is art entirely detached from meaning. Don't even bother trying to piece this thing together.

What is connected is that The Thrills have a great new album, Teenager and they're in New York for the first time in two years promoting the release. They open with the album's first, and possibly best song, "Midnight Choir." We're pushing midnight on the Lower East Side and the Mercury Lounge is completely sold out and singing along. The band rolls into material from their first record playing, "Big Sur" and "Santa Cruz (You're Not That Far)." The songs are cloyingly cute and would remind you of The Beach Boys covering Neil Young's catalogue. There are some obvious limits to their earlier work.

But the new record is deeper and the sonic differences are many. The Thrills are willing to sound similar on all their three albums, but they're not willing to stay in one place. They use the mandolin prominently on the new disc and it seeps out of the Mercury Lounge speakers like a sunny June morning. The silky three-part harmonies the band uses to flesh out their arrangements also sound well-rendered and someone should probably throw the sound guy twenty bucks because he's making all this fit together.

The Thrills smartly stay away from most of the material from their second album, Let's Bottle Bohemia. It's the record that put their career, their major label deal, and their finances in jeopardy and it seems like they know. The sneak in "Found My Rosebud," and it sounds fine but they clearly would rather operate of the limited but charming first album and the more rich, if in places incomplete, third album. Teenager is a real ode to youth culture, the beauty and the beast of being young. For a band three albums deep in their career, it's a nice image.

Singing the chorus of "This Year," lead singer, Conor Deasy says over and over again "this year will be our year/this year will be our year." When the song finishes, he backs from the mic and says "thank you" with a little bow. There is something particularly gracious going on here. He's not kidding and he's not faking. He really is thankful. For a band back from the brink, with a good new album and a capacity crowd, it makes sense why. There's a connection there. Even if it is an Irish band singing California.

In and Out: Graphic Representations of Rap

No, not graphic like the scene in Get Rich or Die Tryin' when 50 Cent tries to act or when 50 Cent gets shot in the face. Graphic like graph. Like X axis and Y axis. I don't know who is responsible for this but it's worth a look.

Hip Hop Graphs

Live Photos: Final Fantasy / Cadence Weapon at Bowery Ballroom [11.11.07]

Nearing the end of their U.S. tour, Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett) and Cadence Weapon made a stop at the Bowery Ballroom.

Live Review: Jimmy Eat World @ Terminal 5 NYC [11.09.07]

When discussing indie rock bands, there is no better way to declare your refined musical taste than to say, “I only like their old stuff.” In my experience, I have heard this phrase used with the most frequency in reference to Jimmy Eat World. JEW (I apologize for the unfortunate acronym) started their career playing ambitious, deeply layered songs that can only be described as emo. However, to the disappointment of many of their previously devoted fans, they have recently developed their sound into a blend of bombastic pop anthems and corny-yet-sweet slow ballads. If any of these jaded former fans happened to make it here to Terminal 5 this evening, I am positive that JEW was able to seduce them right back into the fold.

I arrived a bit late and had some difficulty securing my tickets from the will call booth, but when all was said and done, I ended up with an extra photo pass. At this humongous sold out venue, this turned out to be quite a valuable item. For the first three songs of the set, I was able to post up by the barricade, right in front of stage. JEW came onstage and started out with a bang, opening with “Big Casino,” the first single from their new record, Chase This Light. This was one of only four songs that JEW played from their latest release, which is surprising since they just released the album less than a month ago. They are obviously aware that they have a lot of ground to cover.

Frontman Jim Adkins says that JEW have been playing NYC since 1996. Most of their shows were undoubtedly poorly attended, until their 2001 breakthrough, Bleed American. Looking at this crowd tonight, it is hard imagining that they ever had a problem securing a fanbase. This show was open to all ages, and for a good reason. From the 15-year-old girls in the front row to the 50-year-old men drinking cocktails by the bar, JEW’s appeal has widened significantly since they tweaked their style.


JEW churned out one hit after another, mixing old and new songs together, managing to keep the audience just as happy as they are. Older songs like “Blister” and “Goodbye Sky Harbor” remind the audience of why they fell in love with JEW, and newer songs like “Always Be” and “Let It Happen” fit in just as well with the old ones. All in all, they played 22 songs for just under 2 hours. This may seem excessive, but nobody in the crowd seemed to think so.

JEW disappeared briefly before returning for a 5-song encore, which could possibly be a world record. Their country-tinged reinvention of “Your House” turned out to be a minor disappointment, but they quickly rebounded with a song for the ladies, “Hear You Me.” They followed this slow jam with their strongest song in the roster, “Sweetness,” before finishing with “The Middle” – that little tune that alienated so many fans and enchanted so many adolescents.

Say what you will about JEW, but they have not changed anything but their ambitions. If you were tired of getting dropped from major labels and underselling mid-level venues, you might start writing catchier songs too. They are clearly not wistful for the bad old days, and neither should you. They are still the exact same band that they always were; only now, they are much, much bigger. Please, don’t hate.

[Photos by Mina K ]

In and Out: Apes & Androids are baaaack. [mp3]

If you're in NYC, you may have lucked out and stumbled upon an Apes & Androids show at some point. If not, you most definitely need to see them once before you die or they return to their home planet. The droid boys have just released a track from their upcoming album, Blood Moon, which was recorded in their fancy home studio:

Apes & Androids - Golden Prize [mp3]

Check out an old Loose Record live review of Apes & Androids here.

[Photos by Steph Goralnick]

Live Review: Rogue Wave @ The Bowery Ballroom NYC [11.01.07]

Zach Rogue starts his encore the same way he started his career. He is alone on stage, representing something larger than himself. See, even when Zach Rogue was ostensibly a solo artist, he was already calling himself Rogue Wave. Not only was this an illusion to a large, unpredictable oceanographic force - it was a name for a band that didn't exist yet. As Rogue's solo debut, Out of the Shadows began to take off, he realized he would need musicians to play shows. You can't call yourself Rogue Wave without being one.

So Zach Rogue stands as Rogue Wave, accepting the invitation for encore, the rest of his band waiting back stage. He plays a few older songs acoustically before someone yells out, "Play 'California!'" Rogue looks caught. He begins sheepishly admitting that he hasn't played the song in a year and quote "I would really fuck up the guitar part and everyone would be unhappy." He is likeable and not in a way colored by the notion that likeability is important. He is just likeable.

So the crowd insists. Play "California." Rogue demurs again but with slightly less vigor. Quickly he's telling an anecdote about a similar situation when someone asked him to play the song "acapulco," a hilarious bastardization of "a cappella." So Zach Rogue agrees, he will play "California." And he will sing it "acapulco."

Rogue puts down his guitar and the lights in the Bowery Ballroom go down a little further. The last thing he says to us is, "You gotta help me out with this." So, standing in the darkness, he sings and we help him out with it. "California" is a beautiful song with instruments but it's positively chilling when sung by a room of 850 relative strangers. The last line, sung together, "so lead us there" is one of those moments that offers velocity and power from silence and stand-still.

The band spills back on stage and you could easily remember them playing their full set of songs earlier in the night. Some of the new album, Asleep at Heaven's Gate was on display and "Lake Michigan" proved to be every bit the song that's getting added on radio playlists around the country. Rogue Wave with a radio single? Oceanographic force of nature.

The night ends with a Neil Young cover that I and most other people can't place. The band places themselves at the top of their game. Rogue and his band are rocking harder than they have all night and look pretty far away from some of the ethereal acoustic pop that floods their recorded catalogue. But Zach Rogue looks pretty far from the solo artist who dressed up as Rogue Wave and sometimes we stand for things larger than we are.

[Photo courtesy of the irony and digital revolution of Noah Davis' iPhone]

Interview: Adam Baker of Annuals [10.31.07]

Delancey Street was crawling with zombies, witches, aliens, and one really convincing Kurt Cobain as I made my way to the Bowery Ballroom this Halloween. As Spoon’s Girls Can Tell played in the background, I sat down at the bar for a low-key chat with Adam Baker (pictured, on the floor), 20-year old singer/songwriter of North Carolina’s Annuals, a few hours before they invaded the stage dressed like Old West zombies to play their dynamic, Brian Wilson meets Arcade Fire rock.

Though he describes himself as not a city guy, (“I’d much rather be on a highway in the middle of nowhere”), Baker seemed excited to be playing New York as he munched on an apple and geared up for the show.

LR: Well Happy Halloween! Have you seen any good costumes around the city today?

AB: I don’t know if this is a costume or not, but I saw a guy with vampire teeth, but that might have just been, you know, New York. But I saw a couple of Dorothy’s from the Wizard of Oz walking around.

LR: A few?

AB: Yeah, like three actually. And the band that’s opening the show tonight, [The Nevers], they all dressed like ninjas, like from the Ninja Turtles. They couldn’t get turtle costumes, but they still look awesome, they’re like a bunch of Shredders. Plus they’re a great band. They’re good friends of ours from back home.

LR: So you’re touring with Manchester Orchestra as well, and you’re selling a split 7”, each covering a song by the other band. How did that come about?

AB: We’re like the only two rock bands on our label [Canvasback Music], and we both needed to get some touring done for our records, and we both liked each other’s music, so we thought we’d just put something together and get sort of a cross-promotion train going, and we ended up just getting to know each other, over the phone at least, we never really met until the first night of the tour, but they seemed like really nice guys, and we liked the tune, so we decided to just totally, totally fuck up each others songs, make them completely different. But it turned out really well I think, and we’re definitely having a great time on the tour with them. It’s really nice because they’re also a young band, so it’s easier to get along with them, I reckon.

LR: I read that your label is having a mash-up contest - “Mannuals” is what they’re calling it, where fans are encouraged to mash up a Manchester Orchestra song with an Annuals song. And I guess you guys get to pick the winner. So are there any pairings your especially like to hear?

AB: I really like the song “Where Have You Been” on their record, I’d like to hear that mashed up with our song “The Bull and the Goat”, I think that’d be really cool. Plus, we all think that song on our record doesn’t get enough attention.

LR: I read that you were thinking of incorporating an orchestra from a high school or college when you record your next album?

AB: It’s always been a dream of mine, I mean you can tell from listening to He Be Me , that orchestrations are just a big thing for me, so since we do have a larger budget for recording this next record, I want to get a college orchestra together, but they’re always really busy, and plus I’m not really good at writing music, so I thought a high school orchestra, I mean they’re usually just as good anyway, and they’d probably be more flexible, with my not-so-great musical talent.

LR: So if you don’t tend to write music, what’s your writing process like?

AB: Really, I just have to get in there with whoever it is, and just play it for them. I mean, I can write music, it just takes a long fucking time.

LR: So would the orchestra be something you’d want to incorporate into your live shows?

AB: That would be a dream, that’s definitely what I want to do. But we don’t play stages big enough, we don’t have enough money to pay that many musicians, but hopefully in like, a year or two, that’s our ultimate goal.

LR: Are you road testing new songs on this tour?

AB: We’re playing new songs. They’re new songs so to speak, that are actually old songs that have been recorded, and done. The recording process is really strange, it’s pretty much just me, in the studio, late at night, trying as many different things as I can until something clicks. So playing the newer, newer songs, it’s tough, because it’s hard to teach the band parts that I’m not sure about yet, so there’s that. But we’re definitely playing three newer songs tonight.

Playing newer songs also, I have a big problem with overextending parts, and myself vocally, like I’ll have 20 vocal tracks going, and you have to step back and realize that you have to play this live for the next year and a half, even though it also bums me out to have to think about that because it’s art, you’re not supposed to limit yourself, but I also understand that the art is encompassed by the whole being of Annuals, so you have to take into consideration all those sides. But really, it doesn’t affect the music that much. But a little bit. (Laughs)

LR: So I know that the members of Annuals are also involved in a bunch of other bands and side projects. What’s been going on with that lately?

AB: Another band that all of Annuals is in called Sedona has a record coming out pretty soon. The difference is that Kenny Florence, the lead guitar player of Annuals, he writes the songs for this. Actually, Sedona’s been around longer than Annuals, Annuals started as a side project, because I was just the drummer for Sedona. I have an electronic, sort of Aphex Twin project called Tundra. Zach [Oden]’s getting a metal band together called Bandand, I mean, we just love doing music, all different kinds, hopefully people will end up hearing it one day.

LR: Would you do a separate tour for Sedona?

AB: We’d love to do that. We want to do a 2-week East Coast tour maybe. Hopefully, eventually, once Annuals gets to a comfortable point, and we get the Sedona record circulated, we’d like to go on a full scale tour. I love playing drums, I really love it, and actually one of the songs we’re playing tonight started as a Sedona song, it’s called “Ease My Mind”. It’s a song that Kenny wrote, and it sort fit in more with the Annuals style.

LR: So whenever a band that starts out on an indie label decides to sign with a major, it seems like there are always people who feel upset about it. I was reading a blog today where there was a lot of debate regarding your decision to release your next record on Canvasback. What do you think about the debate of indie versus major?

AB: I think it’s kind of silly. Ace Fu [label that released He Be Me ] is wonderful, but you just can’t get your music out there like you’d like to. I think every musician or songwriter’s ultimate goal is to get their music out there and heard, and it’s just the promotion that indie labels have isn’t as great. And plus the label that we’re on now isn’t exactly a major, they’re involved with Columbia indeed, but it is certainly not Columbia. I think it’s always been like that since I’ve been listening to bands since back when I was a kid, that when a band signs to a bigger label, that they’ve sold out, but if a band’s good enough, people will get over it.

LR: So this being Halloween, I thought I’d conclude by asking you if you had any scary touring stories? Maybe funny scary or actually scary?

AB: Oh there’s been plenty of scary stories. This one is classic. When we first started touring, we were coming back on the NJ Turnpike, we had played in New York, and we were coming back to Virginia to play a show, and it was so fucking hot, we stopped at a rest stop along the turnpike to just get some shut eye, there were too many people in the van, it was steamy hot, and I’m wearing this kimono, do you know what a kimono is? It’s like a silky robe, and I’m burning, sweating, I can’t think, so I get out of the van, and I lay down in front of the van, so that Mike [Robinson], our bass player, who was driving would see me. Um, he didn’t see me, they drove off, down the road, and I wake up to a police office checking my pulse, they thought I had like, OD’d, because I’m barefoot wearing a kimono and nothing else. And I’m like, “No, no, I’m just in a band”, and I tried to call the guys from a pay phone, and of course they’re not answering, because it’s an unavailable number, they don’t know who’s calling- they think I’m in the van, we used to have a weird hammock with the equipment in the back, someone could lay down in, and they thought I was back there.

But luckily, well not luckily, but Mike was still really tired, and he actually crashed into the side of the turnpike because he fell asleep at the wheel, and they thought I had died because I was in the back and all the machinery slid over. So it was great that I wasn’t back there. And then they finally answered my calls and came back, but it was kind of scary because for three hours - they had gotten like three hours down the road before they had to turn around -I was just staying at the rest stop with the cops just watching me.

LR: Did they buy your story?

AB: No, I don’t think they bought it at all, but when the band got there, they were like, “OK, alright”. That was scary, but now it’s funny. But that was a very bad day.

In and Out: How I survived the WFMU record fair

I did make it to the WFMU record fair - bright, early, and decisively unshowered on Saturday morning. Jason met up with me and proved to be a great browsing companion for this collector-nerd activity. The room was as predicted filled with 99.5% dudes, yet I did not get the distinct pleasure of overhearing a discussion about Cream and Clapton.

We were in there for 3-4 hours straight, leaning over tables stocked full of vinyl and cd's. After a while my eyes started bugging out of my head, but I declared success when Jason helped me find a cryptic flexi 7" which I had a feeling might be Pavement. I snatched it up for a dollar, and it turned out to be a rare Pavement split single from 1991...coincidentally, the next chronological piece of Pavement vinyl I'm slated to hunt down. I realize this means nothing to most people.

Here was my loot, for a grand total of $50:

Pavement: My First Mine flexi 7"
The Blow: Parentheses 7"
Panda Bear: Take Pills 7"
Dead Kennedys: Milking the Sacred Cow
Jonathan Richman: I'm So Confused
Jonathan Richman: Surrender to Jonathan
The Double: Loose In the Air
Minus the Bear: Planet of Ice
These Arms Are Snakes: Easter
Karl Blau: Beneath the Waves
Owen: At Home with Owen (bought so I can learn about, thus better ridicule them)
Thomas Lunch: Diagrams Without Instructions

And Jason's loot:

Daniel Johnston & Yo La Tengo: Speeding Motorcycle (split 7")
White Stripes: Hello Operator 7"
Pylon: Chomp 12"
Orange Juice: You Can't Hide Your Love Forever 12"
The Cure: Let's Go To Bed 12"
White Stripes: Icky Thump double LP

[Photo features Jason + Doug + a gaggle of dudes]

Live Review: The Coathangers at Death by Audio [11/1/07]

The thing about the Coathangers is they genuinely seem to be having fun. They aren't trying to seem cooler than the audience. I know it seems like you should do that right away or you'll get heckled. It's a common response to getting on stage in front of people. There isn't that pretentiousness. They know how to play. It's not that we're watching a band work itself out in front of everyone, otherwise we'd have to fall back on the 'all-girl band' thing to mention at the start of every review.

Nope. They can play. They must be what it was like to see X-Ray Spex or the Slits live. They might not take it as seriously even, but then I don't want someone who writes songs like 'Don't touch my shit' and "Shut the fuck up' to take anything too seriously. That's when things could start to go wrong.

Some bands can get by on sheer charisma, drawing the audience into whatever crazy world they want to share. That's the draw for Dan Deacon, or Matt & Kim for example, if you stumble onto the live experience opening for another band you're a convert. The album will be bought and played just because you want to get that rare experience back. A band that appreciates the audience and isn't jaded. Maybe that's the defense for seeking out newer and newer bands that have only been around for a few months with just a hand full of songs on myspace. I can relate to that, they aren't jaded assholes, they haven't had time yet. I have time to make up my own mind before I hear them in every commercial. The self awareness kills me, it kills the music and no, I can't separate the two.

The Coathangers are great, they love to play even for a crowd of 20, they change the lyrics, they play through dealing with shitty equipment. They swap instruments, Rusty Coathanger plays bass, but mostly wails on the drums, and sings like Joan Jett. Minnie on bass took over vocals for 'Nestle in my boobies', the obvious crowd favorite. The Crook Kid belts it out in 'Leave my shit alone' opposite Rusty, and it's as great as any Yeah Yeah Yeahs track. Things are a little off, but that's what's endearing, they just play for the fuck of it.

That's the great and sad part...for a band like this to survive they almost have to give it up at some point or it's going to become another job and they will be resting on the success of their first album: it's raw, it's uncompromising, and they had a good time doing it and I love listening to it.

Tripod Machine! courtesy: Rodger Dodger Photography

In and Out: It's the Weekend! WFMU Record Fair

This weekend is the WFMU Record Fair. So if you have more than an inkling of who Cream is or have a vinyl fetish, you'd best move your butt over to the Metropolitan Pavilion between today and Sunday.

p.s. - For those born between 1978-87, there are always a few tables of recent promo cd's being sold at $2-10.

p.p.s. - You may want to bring a bottle of Febreze. Trust me, I've been going to record shows since I was 12. You'll thank me later.

[Photo taken by me last year, as I held my breath and Xtina + Maggie silently mocked me]

Live Review: Dappled Cities at The Mercury Lounge [10.31.07]

How do you make a band with a big sound come across as even bigger? Put them in a nearly empty room and leave your earplugs at home. I had a feeling Halloween night at the Mercury Lounge would be fairly quiet, but not this deserted. Readying myself for a possibly uneventful evening of music, my expectations started out at a low point. Walking in a few moments into Dappled Cities’ first song, these doubts quickly vanished.

Their thunderous sound is just dark enough to make you quiver while still managing to shine at all the right moments (and it wasn’t just the glow sticks and tin foil they had adorned themselves with). This is a band that knows how to create a definite mood, even if that mood is nameless. It’s that unidentifiable something that draws you in; I found myself taking small steps towards the stage with every passing note.

Armed with two vocalists and a deep sense of song craft, Dappled Cities fires a straight shot to your insides. While a general sense of grandiose prevails through the majority of their songs, the band strikes that coveted balance of eruption and restraint, an often-sought trait that is rarely this neatly executed. I’m not sure I can think of a band with dual singers that serve as such great counterpoints. Trembling falsetto and some Bowie theatrics coupled with a more hushed introspective howl.

Partly thanks to a talented drummer, the songs maintain their shape through the constant tempo changes. Just when it seems the song is about to wrap up, someone pulls the trigger and the group is off to the races. After a brief math rock freak out we’re brought back to solid ground by some guttural staccato yelps a la Animal Collective.

Sure, there are moments when the choral flourishes kick in, the song starts to gallop, and you can’t help but think of Arcade Fire. There are other times when the thought of Muse isn’t so ridiculous either. This band makes me think of countless bands to reference, but the bottom line is Dappled Cities has something of its’ own going on, and they inhabit whatever it is with a strangely youthful expertise. This something isn’t necessarily groundbreaking or new, but it may just get to you. No doubt this band is young. They still have a whole lot to figure out, but they’re making a damn good effort.

Live Review: Annuals with Manchester Orchestra @ The Bowery Ballroom NYC [10.31.07]

Halloween is traditionally a night of costumes, dress-ups, and masquerades. Things are intentionally not what they seem. Could that girl to my left be a slutty witch in real life? Sure. But it just doesn't seem likely.

With Manchester Orchestra second on the bill tonight, we have a major-label band dressed up like an indie. They wear dresses (for Halloween, not always) and rock harder than most American bands on tour tonight which is exactly why they have a deal with one of Sony's smaller labels. But, standing in front of you the smell and sound like an indie band - a really good indie rock band. Playing the biggest songs off their 2007 release "I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child,"mixed with a few chilling solo performances from frontman Andy Hull, the band is rolling in it. Their set closes with Hull, after hinting at a Mountain Goats song in the bridge, alone on stage, finally putting his guitar on the floor and walking off singing, "it's back to the same old shit again." There is a depressing brilliance here and you can't miss it even if, like Hull, it's dressed in red footie pajamas.

After an extended set change, Annuals takes the stage. Like most bands with too many members, you immediately question if they really need all these people and all this stuff. Staring down the barrel of three keyboards and two drum kits, it's hard to see how anyone could use this much sound - no matter what the circumstances. What you don't know is that Annuals are a Swiss Army Band. Most of their members play two and sometimes three different instruments. It's not that they have too much shit on stage, it's that they can play too much shit on stage. Like a sports prodigy with a hall closet full of hockey gear, soccer balls, and baseball bats, this band brought all the things they love to do tonight - and like always, they use all of it.

Even though there is no industry artifice here and Annuals are an indie band on an indie label, they still dressed for the occasion. For Halloween the band dressed as characters from the HBO frontier-drama "Deadwood." Except that they used make-up to look like zombies. So it's dead people from the show "Deadwood" which, if you're scoring at home, is a joke that works on two levels. All double-entendre aside, the band rocks through it's set that reminds me of a more cinenematically-inclined version of The Walkmen. Sure, there's honkey-tonk sounding piano but it's often overlayed with sweeping synths and soaring choruses. This ain't The White Rabbits and thank God for that.

Annuals comes out a little flat and you can't help but think they're almost trapped by the amount of clutter on stage. But questions of space evaporate when both opening bands take the stage to sing vocals, pound on loose tam drums, and, like the keyboard player from Manchester Orchestra, take a set of drum sticks to the stage monitor. It's the most electric moment of the night and ask quickly as the other band members come, they go. As quickly as this all began, it ends.

So on the fifth night of a tour that will carry the two bands for at least another three weeks, everyone dressed up dead and no one actually died. What did really happen, which needed no costume, was two bands powered through their sets and left with a few more fans than they had before. Could it be that simple? Dress it up however you like - you play your tunes, punch your card and you move on to Boston. Even if it makes you a zombie.