Friday, December 12, 2008

Love Is All w/ Crystal Stilts @ Bowery Ballroom, December 7th 2008


I don't completely understand all the buzz about Crystal Stilts. Yes, they have "Crystal" in their name, which apparently makes any band name awesome. And there's that reverb-drenched throwback 60's psych sound with a touch of New York modern-rock jadedness, that's so popular with the hipsters these days. But there's something missing from their sound that just doesn't inspire me. I mean, you're playing the Bowery Ballroom to an almost sold out crowd with a bunch of your friends, at least pretend to have a good time! C'mon people! On the flip side, Love Is All remains a consistently fun and entertaining live band. I used to party with these guys back at NYU, so maybe I'm a little biased... but I think their music stands up for itself. They played mostly songs off of their well-regarded debut LP "Nine Times That Same Song," with a few songs thrown in there off of their latest release "A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night" for good measure. Hi-lites for me included "Busy Doing Nothing" and "Make Out Fall Out Make Up" which was their last song before the encore, and played just when I wanted to hear it.

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