The Yummy Fur @ Market Hotel, January 15th, 2010

The highly-anticipated triumphant state-side debut of 90's glaglow indie-rock band The Yummy Fur exceeded all expectations and brought the real, sweaty, old-school diy ethos to a packed crowd of Brooklyn hipster know-it-alls. I was trying to think of the best way to describe this band... maybe combine the melodic drone of My Bloody Valentine with the post-punk singing styles of The Modern Lovers, aka. AWESOME!

For a band that has been pretty much DOA for the last decade, they really sounded zipper-tight! This current line-up includes the sick drummer from Franz Ferdinand, the blazing guitar lines of Brian McDougall, and an ebullient lead-singer in John (Jackie) McKeown. They even impressed my younger brother, who was in town on vacation, and he usually only gets down with the latest in mid-west underground hip-hop! I bought a tape of Yummy singles after the show from What's Your Rupture? Kevin, who was ecstatic at having The Fur finally play in The Apple. Definitely try to see these guys before they skip back across the pond, you don't want to wait another ten years to see what a truly professional indie-rock band from the 90's sounds like!!!

The Dutchess & The Duke @ Mercury Lounge, January 8th 2009

I'm not exactly sure what compelled me to go to this show. I mean, $10 is a bit much to see just The Dutchess & The Duke. Although I really like their new album, "Sunrise/Sunset," which has some earnestly-sad folk-pop ballads, so that's the majority of my reasoning, but I've seen 'em live before, and they're not exactly mind-blowing (ie. there's not much to look at/ no one doing anything that super-inventively new). Still, something about this band is resonating with New Yorkers, given the sold-out crowd, and even the band members themselves don't quite understand it, asking "How did we trick you into liking us?" I think it has to do with their lyrics. Their songs deal with real emotions, in a bare, stripped-down way, that is refreshing in an often over-produced, overly-effected modern musical landscape. Despite the fact that somebody bought them a few shots of whiskey, and handed them a joint on stage, so their show and professionalism kind of fell apart into a stand-up comedy routine by the end, most of their set was quite lovely and pristine sounding (it's always a pleasure to hear a band perform at The Mercury Lounge, such a gorgeous room). And I truly enjoyed being able to hear all of the lyrics, which can be difficult sometimes on a mixed album. There. I think I just convinced myself!