Broken Social Scene @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg, May 8th, 2010

"Are you ready for The Forgiveness?" Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene asked the sold-out crowd at Music Hall of Williamsburg on a Saturday night in Brooklyn. After opening their set with a few staple BSS hits, the band launched into songs off of their new album aptly titled Forgiveness Rock Record. The new album is good, not my favorite BSS, but I'll gladly keep supporting this band if they continue making poignant, inventive music. I'll probably never see BSS again in such a small venue. And it felt a little weird too, like we were watching a band that had clearly out-grown the mid-sized club. The audience was a little dazed for most of the show, not knowing what to make of this new incarnation of the band. And the band noticed it too, commenting halfway through the set, "I feel like we all just woke up." Of course, this was a big event and all of the branches of the extended BSS family tree were there, including special guest appearances by Emily Haines, and the Philly Horn section. My favorite of the night was their version of "It's All Gonna Break" which they didn't play at Webster Hall the night before. Ahh, another BSS show for the memory books.

Gross Relations @ Bruar Falls, April 23rd, 2010

Bruar Falls was packed for the debut of Gross Relations. They were pretty good, sort of like an even more lo-fi version of Guided By Voices, if that's possible, except with a vibrato-y keyboard and distorted vocals. And I'm not just saying all this cuz they recorded their EP at my studio, I would never do that!

Doomstar! @ Party Expo, April 1, 2010

Holy shit. Doomstar! fucking destroyed! They just keep getting better, with such a huge sound for 3-piece. Sorry, no pictures. I was too busy jumping around!

SHITSTORM w/ The Walk-It-Offs, Martha Dumptruck Massacre @ Matchless, March 31st, 2010

Due to scheduling conflicts (Drum had to skip practice to break up with his girlfriend) SHITSTORM had to play this shit-show as a two piece. I think it went well? At least all the blips and beeps were in their proper order, and everyone had their mind blown. Noise collage at it's best. Thank you for your support! No pics from the show, but we bought some nerd glasses and took a couple portraits during practice. I think Carl looks fantastic.


Martha Dumptruck Massacre always brings a big smile to my ears. For some reason, I can't really describe them, but at least one song really put everything in perspective, and made my night. They're also cool dudes.

Yellow Tears @ Whitney Museum, Friday March 26th, 2009

Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Couch For a Long Time, 2009.
Photograph by Dan Kvitka.

Okay, so I arrived a little late and missed most of Thurston Moore's noise set for this Whitney Biennial event (but I saw him at Glasslands a while back and it was fantastic, so I don't feel too bad). Anyway, Thurston was gonna headline, but didn't want to follow Yellow Tears, and with good reason, they have a monstrous sound and deserved the top spot.

Yellow Tears are what I would describe as "weirdo noise." Their sound-scape collage is consistently unexpected and indescribable, thus perfect for an Art Museum show. They used one sample of a woman screaming in pain, as if she were being stabbed or murdered, that really blew everyone's mind (or at least mine). I couldn't see very well, but I did see the band doing these contorted facial expressions and rapid tongue movements to the music, that in any other context would seem really off-putting, but somehow worked with the strange music. Check out their album The Piss Mop to see what I mean...

Choir Of Young Believers @ Pianos, March 11, 2010

Beautiful, just beautiful! If the stupid bouncer hadn't detained me at the door for 15 minutes for no reason, I would've seen the whole Choir Of Young Believers set (I guess I was in a line full of scheezy dudes -- but I was going to the show! not to hit on girls at the bar!). As it was, I walked in right during a lush version of "Next Summer" and I knew I was in the right place. They came all the way from Denmark for what I assume is their first US visit. Wow. They were amazing. Jannis Makrigiannis has one of the most beautiful voices out there, just as shimmery as Band of Horses or Fleet Foxes, but COYB tunes are slower and more exposed (instead of hiding under a wall of sound, you can hear every note). Their drummer was real good. Shit, they all were. I was worried their live show would be too EMO or too slow or depressing. Not even close, they're were pros and even rocked out a bit at times. They played a few new songs that were also choice. This band will be huge in like a year or two. They probably already are in Europe. See 'em in a small venue, if ya can...

The Morning Benders @ Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, February 25th, 2009

It's hard to resist The Morning Benders for a regular show, but an all-acoustic bookstore gig? With proceeds going to fight hiv/aids? Near impossible! ("You say the money for this beer goes to fight aids? Yes, I'll have another, and I'm buying one for Carl!"). There was also a cool CD swap thing at this show. I traded my Veckatimest record for a Miles Davis CD, which I didn't end up liking. Oh well, still a cool concept...

So, TMB have a new album out, Big Echo, but it wasn't out yet for this show, so most of us didn't know all the new songs they played. No matter, we all sang along with the new single, "Excuses" for the closer, which was pretty cool. It was lead-singer Christopher Chu's birthday, so I'm sure it was a special night for the band too. And it looks like TMB are moving to nyc too, so now we can go hang out at The Levee together and be friends. Sweet! BTW, the whole line up for this show was good Check out Shark? and Cuddle Magic. Both solid.