Atlas Sound @ South Street Seaport, July 25th, 2008

The stripped down atmospheric psych of Atlas Sound is the perfect companion on a warm summer evening. Mr. Sound put on a luscious free solo set at the seaport, and made up for his lack of bandmates with an even greater reliance of heavily effected vocals, hypnotic drum machines, and layers of acoustic guitar. I even shot a nifty video of this one, but the sound came out crappy cuz I was right up front (and it was pretty loud!) Gorgeous stuff tho...

Times New Viking, A Place To Bury Strangers, The Warlocks @ The Whitney Museum, South Street Seaport, Mercury Lounge, June 27th, 2008

Yikes. Three shows in three different venues in one night! I guess I needed to rock out pretty bad last night, after a week of staying in. Can you blame me? I haven't seen any of these bands before, and their set times were perfectly aligned, and two of the shows were free, so why not!? Try to keep up...


My buddy Dave convinced me to join him to see Times New Viking play a free early show at The Whitney Museum of American Art mostly because he'd heard they put on a great live show, and it's an interesting venue to see a band. They were good, in that "we-sound-exactly-like-our-album" way, but because there was no stage and tons of people in front of us, we couldn't see a thing! Lame. You lose interest pretty quick when all you can see is the back of some brah's head, and half of a guitarist (who wasn't even singing). I don't think I even saw two or three people in the band. But at least I got to check out the latest exhibits at the Whitney, including some cool 70's Polaroids by Mapplethorpe (see sample above).





A Place To Bury Strangers were great, continuing the tradition of amazing free summer outdoor shows down at the Seaport. They build and design their own guitar pedals, so they have truly crafted their own sound. They remind me of other stoner pop bands like The Ponys and The Black Lips, but maybe with more of a psych background. They killed. Plus, the seaport was a great place to watch the waterfall off of the brooklyn bridge.


Well, this was the only show I payed money to see, which probably says something, although $15 bucks is a bit much to see a band like The Warlocks. I am a fan, but sometimes their music can be a bit of a downer. You gotta be in the right mood for it, which I was last night. I just love the sound of this band, very drony, yet also intense, with a good vocalist and a great fuzz guitar. I wanted them to play "Surgery," which they didn't, but they did play a sing-along version of "Come Save Us" which felt good. Check 'em out, if you're in the mood...

These New Puritans @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, Sunday June 8th, 2008

My new English mate Jim insisted that I come check out this band from near his hometown, These New Puritans. They were pretty good, with the right mix of psychedelic/electronic samples, overlapping vocals, and just pure rocking out. I can definitely see the Bloc Party/Wire references, although TNP are younger, more-artsy/less-poppy, and want it all a little more. You can't really tell what lyrics they're saying, except for snippets during the chorus, but this isn't a problem in their recordings. I like how the lead singer wears an old-school chain-mail vest at their shows. Is this a new English fad? It's like watching Joan of Arc front a post-rock band. Nice ax work, Joan.

Woods + New Bloods + Power Douglas @ 234 Wythe, Brooklyn. May 27th, 2008

There's something so nice about going to an underground show. You know, where the venue doesn't technically have a name, and asks you to be quiet when you smoke outside, so that the cops don't come, and the bar consists of just a couple of haphazardly thrown together cheap bottles of booze, and you've never heard of any of the bands, but you don't care because they all have the right spirit, and you end up blogging about it when you're slightly inebriated at 2 in the morning. =)
I originally came to this show to see Woods, but since they were playing last, I killed some time at Monkeytown with some cheap wine and pleasant company before heading over to the nondescript club known only as 234 Wythe. The first band I caught, Power Douglas, played an energetic and heavily distorted punk set with only drums, bass and delayed vocals. They had a memorable finish, when the singer repeated the mantra, 'love is indestructible' over and over again. True that. The second band, New Bloods, could only be conceived in 2008, a three-piece all-girl punk band with bass, drums, and violin. They held it together surprisingly well, given the sparse instrumentation, and I left impressed, although I bet they make a better impression live than on record... Finally, Woods came on and delivered a psychedlic folk set that is distinctly louder live than on record. But what they lack in dynamics, they more than make up for in originality, which is what really draws you into the band from the get-go (notice the band member using his headphones as a microphone for background vocals, wow!). Regardless, they played 'Night Creature' exactly when I wanted them to, which pretty much sold them for me. Like I said, sometimes you can't beat a night in the underground...

Doomstar w/ Shitstorm + Whistlejacket @ PA's Lounge, April 18th, 2008

I promised I wouldn't blog about myself, because that's kinda like tootin' your own horn (if you know what i mean), but Doomstar was just so damn good I had to give them some internet props. Holy Coooooooooow. They destroyed. I was expecting a pretty sick set, but this was disgusting. There was no slowing down. They jumped right in and started rocking large and didn't let the energy drop until the very end. They've got a very simple three man set up with guitar, bass and drums, but they manage to have a huge tight sound that stays interesting for the entire set. Phew. I wish more bands were this good (plus they're super-nice guys, and friends of mine, so double bonus). Oh yeah, and my band Shitstorm also played an ambient psych freakout set in the grand new tradition. The shit clocked in their longest set yet at 25 swirly, samply, mind-blowing minutes! For some reason we just can't seem to break a half-an-hour live, and yet in practice we can play endlessly - go figure. I think it has something to do with intense level of concentration needed to make this type of music. But still I think people left satisfied, and whatever, leave them wanting more right? Whistlejacket opened up the show and has this great singer-songwriter voice that sounds like a cross between Neil Young and Doug Martsch, very nice indeed. I'll have to check him out a bit more...

Parts & Labor @ Studio B, April 16th 2008

I arrived in the middle of Parts & Labor's raucous set at Studio B and was definitely impressed with their indie-rock energy and sound (not to mention the lead singer's shoulder-length beard), but was surprised at how flabbergasted the audience looked. They just stood there not rocking out, like they'd never seen a rock show before. All they needed was one dude in the front row to raise his fist and jump around a bit to get the crowd going (usually that would be me, but I had not yet had any cocktail inspirations ;) Maybe they were all fans of the headliner Yacht, who was so awful I literally had to go in the other room and cry a bit by myself just for the fact that some people consider this a kick-ass live show. Not that they weren't nice people, I just don't like going to a show and watching people sing over a pre-made beat on a laptop. What is this, Karaoke night? Btw, they mentioned that they just finished touring with Vampire Weekend and the crowd all booed. I guess the cycle of the buzz band is now shorter than ever.

Nina Nastasia w/ Jim White / Phosphorescent @ Bowery Ballroom, April 7th, 2008

Last night, Nina Nastasia gave one of the best female artistic performances I've ever seen. Her songs have an earthy, timeless charm that recall heartbroken, sleepless nights and their long, often painful recovery. Stylistically she reminds me of Marissa Nadler, but more confident and weathered, with her emotions riding closer to the surface. Her voice is gorgeous, consistently in tune, with a wide dynamic range, whether playing a sweet and soft ballad, or a strong and bitter reproof. I don't know how she did it, but her acoustic guitar sounded wonderful, with the perfect amount of bite, and a rich, round, all-natural chime. The talented Jim White supported her, filling out her sound during the more intense moments, and instinctively laying out during the quieter, personal moments. She closed her set with a lovely version of "That's All There Is." Here are some of the lyrics:

"But that's all there is/
So stop all your dreaming/
It makes me so sad/
Let's keep what we had"

Btw, Phosphorescent opened the show, but I won't mention too much about them (see post below for more info), except that I enjoyed their smaller, intimate set at the Mercury Lounge more than this one at the Bowery Ballroom.