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Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

Live Music: Cursive @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 3/9/09

Appearances, as they say, can be deceiving. Looking at Cursive frontman Tim Kasher’s slim stature on stage at the Music Hall of Williamsburg last Monday night, one unfamiliar with his songwriting might have never guessed the hostilities that lurk within.

Shaking his head and his fist, Kasher pointed his rage at lovers, religion and critics, pulling out a career spanning set list with a heavy emphasis on recent material. Ugly Organ, Happy Hollow and last week’s newly released Mama, I’m Swollen consumed most of the set.

The crowd was tame but appreciative, and so was the band. Cursive can be known for Kasher’s booze-besotted outbursts, but he was quiet and polite in-between songs. Though he claimed, at one point that, “I have a threshold of about 15 songs and then I get really bored,” they chugged through a 13-song set and six-song encore with not so much as a hiccup.

Brand new jams “From the Hips,” “Mama, I’m Satan” and “I Couldn’t Love You” fit in comfortably between fan favorites like “Some Red-Handed Slight of Hand” and “The Casualty,” though it’ll take some time before the new tunes rile fans up as much as the older ones.

Cursive, “From the Hips” (download)

Supporting Kasher were founding bassist Matt Maginn and long-time guitarist Ted Stevens, who thrashed around with ease, as well as a yet to be identified keyboardist and trumpeter. But it appears that the most recent addition, drummer Cornbread Compton — who replaced founding drummer Clint Schnase, who left in ‘07 — was absent at both the Music Hall of Williamsburg show, as well as the show at Bowery Ballroom the following night, and we’re not the only ones to notice. If anyone can confirm or deny, please do. (Drummers, sheesh!) (more…)

Tags: Bowery Ballroom, Clint Schnase, Cursive, Happy Hollow, Matt Maginn, Ted Stevens, Tim Kasher, Ugly Organ
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Monday, March 16th, 2009

Live Music: Les Savy Fav @ the Mezzanine, 3/1/09

by Taylor Long

By now, most people who’ve heard (of) Les Savy Fav know their live show is more spectacle than concert. This is due in large part to front-man Tim Harrington, whose no-holds-barred antics could probably attract the same crowd sizes on their own. This isn’t to knock Les Savy Fav’s music, or their ability to play it in a live setting – there’d be nothing wrong with watching them stand or dance around like any other band. But with songs as sexually charged and defiant as theirs, the baccanalian atmosphere just drives the point home.

Their Noise Pop closing show at San Francisco’s the Mezzanine was no exception, with Harrington in top form from the moment he walked on stage. He arrived covered in toilet paper, claiming it was a cask from a biking accident, before he quipped that it reminded him of a tampon, then doused himself in water and shook toilet-paper-mache over an already rapt crowd. The only way to make an entrance like that even better? By opening with “What Would Wolves Do?,” “In time we will show the world why the world made us.”

Les Savy Fav, “What Would Wolves Do?” (download)

Since Harrington just handles vocal duties, his theatrics still leave guitarists Seth Jabour and Andrew Reuland, drummer Harrison Haynes and bassist Syd Butler free to concentrate on the technical aspects of the performance, delivering a tight series of pounding noise-dance-rage tunes. Harrington’s actions are pure spur of the moment, though, so the other band members were often as wide-eyed or slack-jawed as the audience. (more…)

Tags: Harrison Haynes, Les Savy Fav, Let's Stay Friends, Noise pop, San Francisco, San Francisco California, Tim Harrington, Toilet paper
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Monday, February 9th, 2009

Live Music: Jukebox the Ghost, Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, 2/6/09

by Allen Lulu

Last year I had the good fortune to discover a band before almost anyone else and before they blew up. In the case of Jukebox the Ghost, however, there’s still time; if you listen and love them now, you will be in that special crowd of musical geekdom: the “I knew them when” crowd.

For me, unearthing a gem of a band is a bi-polar experience. I want to shout to the rafters about the band — and I do, anywhere I can. And then, after they have been embraced by masses, there is usually a twinge of loss, that they aren’t “mine” anymore.

When I was a teen, this was because the music I loved helped me define myself. And since the band was different, unique, special, then it would follow that I must be as well. At the same time, though, while experiencing the loss of my secret, self-clarifying touchstone, I am buoyed and elated by their success and thrilled when it happens for them — mostly because it means there will be more music from the group and better concerts and also because it vindicates my taste and proves that, well, why not say it? I was right.

All of this brings me to Jukebox the Ghost and their live performance at The Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles.Â But, first, a little history.

(more…)

Tags: Jukebox the Ghost
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Thursday, February 5th, 2009

Live Music: Frightened Rabbit @ Le Poisson Rouge, 2/2/09

by Taylor Long

Frightened Rabbit could not have been more different from the setting for their acoustic, all-request set at Le Poisson Rouge on Monday night. Le Poisson Rouge’s pricey beverages and bottle service attracted an audience more interested in being seen there than being there, as the sound of chatter rose above both openers, Joe Pug and Gregory & the Hawk. The scene was a stark contrast to the hairy, earnest Scots who took to the stage with plaid shirts and holes in their jeans. But try as they might have, a band as raw and emotional as Frightened Rabbit can’t be talked over.

Front man/songwriter Scott Hutchinson and crew were cheery from the start, which was a request for fan-favorite, “Backwards Walk,” from their second and most recent album, The Midnight Organ Fight. “That’s a poor choice,” Hutchinson jokingly chided before launching into the tune about the inability to stop returning to an ex. The song closes with one of their more memorable lyrics, “You’re the shit / and I’m knee deep in it.” That was all it took for the audience to stop talking.

Jokingly holding up blank set lists, Hutchinson explained that the idea for the all-request show came along because after 10 months of touring, “We just wanted to do something that was going to be enjoyable.” And enjoy it he did, telling stories about the songs between swigs from a bottle of whiskey. “Everyone thinks it’s about my penis, but it’s not,” he remarked after playing “Snake,” which he elaborated is actually about his plans to surprise a woman in New York City by showing up with nothing but the clothes on his back and a draft snake he’d been keeping for her. As it happened, the girl was “less than thrilled,” so he wrote “I Feel Better” as a sequel, reusing the music from the chorus. (more…)

Tags: Frightened Rabbit, Live Music, Taylor Long
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Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Live Music: Tallest Man on Earth and Marissa Nadler @ Mercury Lounge, 12/9/08

by Taylor Long

Though Kristian Matsson’s stature does not meet the expectations set forth by his stage moniker, Tallest Man on Earth, he was plenty intimidating in presence during his recent show at the Mercury Lounge. Pacing about the stage and having staring contests with the audience, he would single out someone and approach them with wide-eyes, only to shift his gaze moments later. His momentum would pause only to growl a verse, then he would return to his wandering ways.

Though “Dylanesque” is more of a curse than a compliment anymore, there are some who earn the adjective, and Matsson is one of them. Between his plucky guitar picking and the nasal-wail of his voice there’s enough fuel for the comparison, but even beyond that, it extends to the rhythm of his lyrics:

As I knock your door from inside once more
How I wish a soothin’ breeze would let me in
Shake my tambourine at your glowing dreams
So honey won’t you let me in

Tallest Man On Earth, “Honey, Won’t You Let Me In” (download)

For a Swedish singer-songwriter with just one album (Shallow Grave) to his name, Matsson was warmly received by an enthusiastic crowd, some of whom even knew the lyrics. It could be the endorsements from indie-folk crooner of the moment Bon Iver, who Matsson opened for the next few nights, and Pitchfork, who gave his LP a rave, have helped.

Performing opening duties for Matsson at Mercury Lounge was dream-folk chanteuse Marissa Nadler. Singing with a similar wide-mouthed, ethereal effect to that of a deeper-voiced Joanna Newsome, Nadler has come to be known for her dark imagery, easily seen in just a handful of song titles – “Bird on Your Grave,” “River of Dirt,” “Ghosts and Lovers.” But like many a good pessimist, Nadler is ultimately a romantic scorned. “Sometimes you bring me flowers and misery,” she quipped at the beginning of a new song. If that’s what keeps her writing poetry like “Diamond Heart,” though – I had a man in every town / and I thought of you each time I tore off my gown - maybe it’s best she stays single.

Image courtesy flickr user Karl Gunnarsson

Tags: Live Music, Marissa Nadler, Tallest Man on Earth, Taylor Long
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Sunday, December 14th, 2008

Live Music: Dan Deacon and Dirty Projectors @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 12/12/08

by Taylor Long

Looking down on the audience at Dan Deacon’s show at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple on Thursday night was akin to watching a strange orgy or mating ritual of some kind. People in their teens and twenties swayed as a group, not moshing so much as just moving, touching each other – though there was crowd surfing involved.

For the overstimulated generation, it’s easy to see how someone like Deacon can make a killing. Every piece of his electro-dance-pop pulsates constantly, relentlessly – loads of drums, computers and synthesizers chugging at full speed. Having a “15-piece” ensemble (so he claimed, though the most counted on stage at one point was closer to 10) made Deacon’s robustness that much more boisterous, with nary a break, except in the middle of the set, where he took advantage of So Percussion (the apt-named, Steve Reich-loving openers) and their xylophones for a twinkling number or two – both of which naturally evolved back into Deacon’s overdrive in due time.

The Masonic Temple, however, is a dubious front of a music venue, and it was hard to hear what, exactly, Deacon was doing with the mic. When he disappeared into the crowd for most of the set, no one walking in would have had any idea of the bearded man in glasses and a plaid shirt leading the effrontery on the stage. Deacon himself was noticeably angered by this, doing multiple sound checks and announcing after the first song, “Well, this so far is a nightmare. Let’s see if we can take over the nightmare, and have sex with the nightmare.” (more…)

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Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

Live Music: Brian Wilson, Wellmont Theatre, Montclair, NJ, 11/23/08

by Ken Shane

He’s 67 years old now. The still-full head of hair is graying. There are a few extra pounds around the midsection of the once lanky frame. His eyes reflect a sadness that most of us will never understand. Remarkably, especially given his tragic history, Brian Wilson is writing and producing some of the most vital music of his career these days. His most recent album, That Lucky Old Sun, is a nostalgic look back at the southern California of his childhood, a place defined by a mythos that no one was more responsible for creating than Wilson himself.

To call Brian Wilson a cult figure seems a little odd considering how many records he’s sold during his career, and yet to some extent, that’s what he is these days. Yes, there are Beach Boys fans, a surprising number of young people among them, who will come out to hear the hits, and Brian and his stellar band deliver those every night. These same people are likely to go to a show by the band, led by Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, that tours as the Beach Boys these days. But there are hardcore Brian Wilson fans who want nothing to do with Mike Love. They are there to hear Brian’s newest music, and not just one song, but the entire album, start to finish. Over the last few years, Brian has rewarded those fans with full takes on his masterpieces, Pet Sounds and SMiLE, and now, a performance of his latest opus, That Lucky Old Sun.

Until recently, the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, NJ, was a down-at-the-heels old movie theater surrounded by a community that was rapidly gentrifying. New ownership entered the picture, and they have done a miraculous job of restoring the old place, which re-opened in October. Not only is the theater looking and sounding great, but get this, the staff is actually polite and seems grateful for your business. Imagine that if you can. The Wellmont is a perfect example of the fact that we don’t need to cover every inch of ground space with new buildings when wonderful older buildings are awaiting restoration. (more…)

Tags: Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Darian Sahanaja, Dennis Wilson, Jeffrey Foskett, Ken Shane, Pet Sounds, Scott Bennett, Smile, That Lucky Old Sun
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Sunday, November 30th, 2008

Live Music: Pattern Is Movement @ the Knitting Factory, 11/18/08

by Taylor Long

Left wanting more after seeing one of their many CMJ sets, I was interested to see that Pattern is Movement was coming back to NYC to open for Subtle. As it stands, though, this pair should be headlining their own shows already.

Pattern is Movement is the kind of band one can pull whatever one likes from, whether it be focusing on Andrew Thiboldeaux’s sweet voice or Chris Ward’s flawlessly instinctive drumming. It’s aggressive, it’s beautiful, it’s whatever you’re in the mood for it to be.

In comparison to the rambunctiousness of their final CMJ set, Tuesday’s show was calmer but no less engaging – and, luckily, not in the Knitting Factory basement, so sound quality was instantly improved. Show-goers were led once more in a sing-a-long to “Right Away,” and at least one couple got caught up in the charming atmosphere and spent a sizable chunk of the show making out – much to the amusement of the good-natured duo and the rest of the audience.

Pattern Is Movement, “Right Away” (download)

Subtle was plenty interesting in character – wearing a construction worker’s flashlight headband, telling jokes and going on rants – but based on how much the crowd decreased in size after Pattern is Movement finished their set, most of us would’ve been perfectly pleased to see them play longer.

Tags: Live Music, Pattern Is Movement, Taylor Long
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Wednesday, November 12th, 2008

Live Music: Nine Inch Nails @ DCU Center, 11/9/08

by Taylor Long

It would go against the trail-blazing spirit of Trent Reznor to use him as any sort of guideline, but it must be said that any arena rock band should turn to Reznor’s live show for inspiration. Every aspect of Sunday night’s show at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, was flawlessly executed, a well-conceived blend of the wants of both Reznor and his audience.

Dubbed the Lights in the Sky Tour, after a track on his recent release, The Slip, Reznor took the name and applied the basic translation in a complex presentation. Combining his innovative tendencies, his fondness for the highly conceptual, and his costly production spending habits, Reznor turned to Moment Factory, for a visually stunning, interactive design. The Montreal-based new media and entertainment company has an impressive list of unconventional clients that includes Cirque du Soleil.

Primarily centered around three screens that could be raised and lowered, the lighting effects for the current Nine Inch Nails tour respond to either physical movement (a gap in television-like static that followed Reznor’s path along the stage in “Only”), or sonic movement, like giant versions of the iTunes Visualizer. During more tranquil moments, like the block of songs from the ambient, instrumental Ghosts I-IV, the display engages the imagination, transporting the audience through picturesque scenery of swamps and deserts, pulled from the graphics that accompanied the release. (more…)

Tags: fans of this band hate Darren Robbins, Live Music, NIN, Nine Inch Nails, Taylor Long, Trent Reznor
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Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

Live Music: Smashing Pumpkins @ United Place, 11/6/08

by Taylor Long

Anyone who was unsure as to what to expect from the Smashing Pumpkins’ performance at United Palace last Thursday surely had that question answered within the first few minutes. They started on time, and opened “Roctopus” with a Jimmy Chamberlin drum solo, after which erratic frontman Billy Corgan took the stage – in a dress. A big, layered, tulle dress, with a gold overcoat and a gold headdress resembling the sun.

Although the show was billed as the Smashing Pumpkins, “Billy Corgan and band” would have been more appropriate. Even discounting the fact that other than Corgan, Chamberlin is the only original member that remains, the backing ensemble was just kind of there. They were dressed in black and white gothic formal wear of suits, dresses and corsets, while Corgan stuck out even in terms of clothing, wearing an all-white layered skirt and matching white “Zero” shirt. There’s been plenty of talk that the original line-up was more or less manufactured as part of an image while Corgan ran the show, and noticing that the band members physically resembled those they were replacing seemed to be testament to such gossip.

If the show is going to be put in one person’s hands, however, at the very least Corgan is an entertaining choice. One cannot deny that he has impressive technical skill on guitar, and he made sure to introduce challenging riff after riff after riff, just in case anyone should try. Even the mediocre, more current material like “Tarantula” and “United States” was energized and exciting. When he wasn’t showing off by playing his guitar, he was showing off in the most literal meaning of the phrase, holding his guitar up above his head and staying that way for awhile, as if expecting to be hit by lightening. He’d play a note or two, then strike another pose of reverence. (more…)

Tags: Live Music, Smashing Pumpkins, Taylor Long
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