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.

World's Greatest Dad @ Knitting Factory, March 15th, 2008

My friend Dani came down from North Hampton last weekend with her band World's Greatest Dad. They play what I like to call "Renaissance Psych," a mixture of the psychedelic sounds of the 60's with Renaissance music of the 16th century. This was their first show. It featured two acoustic guitars, a violin, a flute, a clarinet, a sweet sounding omnichord, and a bold front-man. So fun! I tell ya, all the best new musical trends originate in Canada, make a pit-stop in North Hampton for a year, and eventually reach the Big Apple. We're at least two years behind. But hopefully by 2010 there should be a huge Renaissance revival in the city, with everyone painting frescoes, wearing pointy shoes, and playing the mandolin. Works for me!

Frog Eyes @ Mercury Lounge, March 12, 2008

I wasn't even planning on going to this show. But I happened to be walking by the Merc 20 minutes before the Frog Eyes set and I couldn't resist... I'm glad I went! Frog Eyes is another talented Canadian Indie-Rock band with the ability to capture the anxieties of modern life in a unique and aurally pleasing way. You can definitely hear the Spencer Krug/Sunset Rubdown influence in the sound (or is it the other way around with Spence ripping his sound from Frog Eyes?). Either way both bands have a similar sound with Sunset being a little more controlled and emotional, and Frog Eyes being a little more wild and stream of consciousness. Front man Carey Mercer can really rip on the guitar and has a pleasing, whimsical voice and a relaxed stage persona, telling a bunch of jokes in between songs. They weren't hilarious jokes, but worthy of a sarcastic "Ha Ha." (right Keith?) Of course that's not why people came to the show. It's the music stupid!

Phosphorescent w/ The Acorn, Bowerbirds @ Mercury Lounge, February 29th, 2008

Phosphorescent has a lot of heart. They're also dead sexy, in that lonesome-cowboy-just-hold-me-before-i-have-to-hit-the-trail nobody-can-understand-my-pain sort of way. Lead singer, Matthew Houck, besides being the principle source of the sexiness, also has one of the smoothest voices out there, kind of like a softer, sadder Band of Horses. Their piano player, also quite good, plays some strenuous double octave lines with both hands, wow! I couldn't really hear the lead-guitarist with the sweet mustache, cuz he was on the other side of the stage, but I think he was good? my only complaint would be the drummer, who wasn't always playing the fills exactly how i wanted to hear them, but overall it didn't subtract too much from the performance. I thought that "Wolves" would be my favorite song live (cuz it's my fav on record), but surprisingly "My Dove, My Lamb" and "A Picture Of Our Torn Up Praise" came out really nice last night. If you can, go check 'em out...

Sometimes it's nice to see a really forlorn and heart-broken lead vocalist. It reminds you that not all music is being made just for some sort of vacuous goal of fame and fortune. Openers, The Acorn play sad acoustic indie-folk, with nice vocal harmonies and multi-layered classical and acoustic guitar parts. The lead vocalist was a little too hot in the monitors for me, so at times I would be turned off by his vocal part, but the harmonies provided by the bass player, who sang almost every word, were quite nice and kept me from being turned off prematurely. Speaking of maturity, they seemed a bit young, and could use a little more time to marinate in ye ole rock-and-roll oven, but they are definitely heading in the right direction. A little more experimentation, and maybe even an overdrive or delay pedal somewhere in the mix, might give what they lack...

Closers, Bowerbirds, were pretty good, doing that girl/boy everything is lovey-dovey harmony stuff. Sometimes it felt a little sparse though, and their songs could use another instrument. Just my opinion dudes.

Atlas Sound @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, February 24th, 2008

After a long weekend of debauchery in western mass, I wasn't too keen on seeing a show sunday night, but since I had already bought the ticket, and have been quite impressed by the free music on their their blog, I knew I had to go. Atlas Sound is the spin-off band of Bradford Cox, who needed another avenue to quench his insatiable creative musical energy. Now, I've seen Deerhunter, and was never really blown away by them live, mostly because their heavy-stoned-psych sound has been done a thousand times before, but Atlas is a different animal. Much like Spencer Krug with his spin-off band Sunset Rubdown, Mr. Cox seems much more comfortable and enthusiastic about playing in the Sound than with his original group. As for the music, when they play classic Atlas tracks, it sounds gorgeous, with all the shoegazey dreaminess we know and love (they tried to improvise a couple of covers, specifically a Blue Oyster Cult song, that didn't come out too well -- you have to practice that shit first dudes!!). Anyway, one advantage to seeing Atlas live is that you can hear all the lyrics, which are excellent, and can get buried in effects on record. Mr. Cox must've been in a good mood because he was practically doing stand-up between songs, bouncing around the stage. His stage banter is unique to say the least. I didn't quite understand what he meant when he asked bandmate Adam Forkner to "take us to the field of gated reverb and shoot us in the back of the head," but it accomplished the desired artistic effect. For their encore, the entire band came out on stage topless (even the lady bassist with all boobs-a-flyin') just to make sure everyone blogged about the show the next day. I was going to anyway dudes, you guys rule! I even bought a shirt. =)